Grocer Files $100-Million Abuse Suit Against Sheriff

A Gardena grocer has filed a $100-million lawsuit accusing sheriff’s deputies of physically and verbally abusing him while trying to arrest him.

The federal lawsuit targets Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block.

Rafael Navarro, the owner of El Indio Market, alleged in his lawsuit that deputies from the Lennox sheriff’s station tortured him by slamming his head through a wall and yelling racial slurs at him in front of his family, said his attorney, Stephen Yagman.

The Sept. 3 arrest started when a deputy issued a ticket to one of Navarro’s employees for driving a company truck without a valid driver’s license. Then the deputy impounded the truck.

When Navarro went outside the store to protest, the deputy became angry, the suit said, and called two colleagues. Two of the deputies allegedly entered the market and abused Navarro, according to the lawsuit.

Yagman said Navarro had stitches for his head wounds and his neck was severely injured.

The sheriff’s deputies have countercharged that Navarro resisted arrest, threatened and hit a deputy. He was arrested on suspicion of making a terrorist threat, battery against a law enforcement officer, creating a public disturbance and obstruction of justice.

The Sheriff’s Department is investigating Navarro’s complaint.