A respected Compton community leader said he felt “violated” and “humiliated” after L.A. deputies shackled and hauled him out of his home wearing only a shirt and no pants or underwear.
Derrick Cooper, the founder of the L.A. City Wildcats Youth Academy, told KTLA that he never summoned law officers to his home. The deputies had gone to the wrong address, it turned out.
“I did not call for the sheriff or the police to come here. There was no need for them to come here,” Cooper said. “I felt so humiliated and violated. I’ve never felt that way in my life.”
Deputies allegedly invaded the Black man’s residence at 4 a.m. on April 18. He was later handcuffed and led outside. “I wake up with guns and flashlights in my face,” Cooper recalled, adding that the lights and noise inside his home confused him.
Cooper, who was in bed when the law enforcement officials entered his home, was instructed by the deputies to show his hands, get up and make his way toward them. “I told them please don’t shoot me,” he said.
As he was walking towards the deputies, Cooper asked if he could wear more clothes as he only had on a shirt, but the deputies declined his request and took him to a patrol car outside, per KTLA.
“I knew I was going to die that morning because you hear ‘L.A. County Sheriffs’ and guns are drawn,” Cooper said. “The first thing that went through my mind was Breanna Taylor, all of these people that have died in their apartments because police came in their dwellings.”
Cooper wasn’t wearing any underwear or pants when he was taken out of his home.
“I just can’t believe this happened to me. My dignity, you know, you parade me out here on Compton Boulevard with no underwear. Don’t you have any compassion?” Cooper asked. “I’m a Black man trying to do something positive, trying to be a part of something that’s going to leave a legacy for my family, in my community and it was almost taken away from just like that, and all I get is, ‘I’m sorry, we’ve got the wrong building.’ It’s unacceptable, man. I am a human being.”
Cooper informed ABC7 that he has been unlawfully imprisoned by the Sheriff’s Department before. Though he did not suit the first time, it appears like he will this time.
“Definitely the intentional infliction of emotional distress,” Cooper’s attorney, Person-Lynn, said. “There’s the battery, the assault, there’s the unlawful entry and violation of his 4th amendment rights.”
Person-Lynn also said they intend to file a claim against the county. “I expect so much more from our law enforcement,” Cooper said. “We need them. We want them to do what we need them to do and that’s protect us. Not to keep us in fear. And as a Black man in my community, I’m in fear.”
Responding to the incident in a statement, the Compton Sheriff’s Station said they are “thoroughly reviewing the incident and more information is forthcoming.”