"On October 6, 1976, LAPD pulled over 24-year-old Adolph Lyons for a burnt-out tail light. Four white officers, guns drawn, ordered him out of the car. Lyons, unarmed, did not resist. Nevertheless, an officer put him in a chokehold so tight Lyons lost consciousness. He woke up on the ground, his underwear soiled, spitting blood and dirt. The police wrote him a traffic ticket and let him go."
"Lyons sued the city of L.A. in 1977, seeking damages and an injunction to prevent such abuses from ever happening again. Towns said chokeholds should be barred except in situations where the proposed victim of [the chokehold] reasonably appears to be threatening the immediate use of deadly force. Lyons won in lower courts. But the city government appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the motorist wasn't entitled to an injunction that limited police policy. The high court agreed, in a 5-4 decision."
On October 6, 1976, Los Angeles police officers choked 24-year-old Adolph Lyons during a traffic stop, rendering him unconscious and injuring him. Lyons, Black and a military veteran, retained a lawyer and sued the city in 1977 seeking damages and an injunction to bar chokeholds. Lower courts ruled for Lyons, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed in a 5-4 decision, holding that plaintiffs must show a specific, realistic threat of future harm to obtain an injunction against police policy. The decision erected a legal barrier to injunctive relief for police abuses and influenced later federal enforcement actions.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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