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A SWAT team destroyed his shop - now the city won't cover repairs, owner says
MORNING MIX
A SWAT team destroyed his shop – now the city won’t cover repairs, owner says
Carlos Pena, 56, said he’s been forced to run his decades-old printing business out of his garage
By Jonathan Edwards
July 20, 2023 at 7:08 a.m. EDT
Carlos Pena points to a hole in a door at NoHo Printing & Graphics, his Los Angeles print shop. Pena is suing the city of Los Angeles, arguing officials should cover the damage that LAPD officers allegedly caused Aug. 3, 2022, while raiding the shop in search of a fugitive. (Institute for Justice)
Carlos Pena braced himself last summer as he stepped into the small business he’d spent more than three decades building from nothing. It had been 12 hours since a fugitive shoved Pena out of his print shop and barricaded himself inside and 5½ hours since a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team allegedly launched tear gas and stormed in, only to discover that the fugitive had eluded them.
At 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, Pena went inside his NoHo Printing & Graphics to assess the damage: Tear gas permeated the shop. Copy machines and other electronics were ruined. Holes had been punched through doors, windows and the roof.
On Wednesday, Pena, 56, sued the city of Los Angeles, alleging that LAPD officers destroyed his life’s work and that city officials then spent months ignoring requests to cover the repairs. In a nine-page lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Central California, Pena does not accuse police of wrongdoing when they allegedly did more than $60,000 worth of damage to his business, because that’s what officers needed to do to keep the public safe, said Suranjan Sen, a lawyer with Institute for Justice, a nonprofit representing Pena. But Pena shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences — the city should pay to repair the damage, he said.
{snip}
By Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, he covered public safety for The Virginian-Pilot and Lincoln Journal Star. Twitter https://twitter.com/jonathanreports
A SWAT team destroyed his shop – now the city won’t cover repairs, owner says
Carlos Pena, 56, said he’s been forced to run his decades-old printing business out of his garage
By Jonathan Edwards
July 20, 2023 at 7:08 a.m. EDT
Carlos Pena points to a hole in a door at NoHo Printing & Graphics, his Los Angeles print shop. Pena is suing the city of Los Angeles, arguing officials should cover the damage that LAPD officers allegedly caused Aug. 3, 2022, while raiding the shop in search of a fugitive. (Institute for Justice)
Carlos Pena braced himself last summer as he stepped into the small business he’d spent more than three decades building from nothing. It had been 12 hours since a fugitive shoved Pena out of his print shop and barricaded himself inside and 5½ hours since a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team allegedly launched tear gas and stormed in, only to discover that the fugitive had eluded them.
At 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, Pena went inside his NoHo Printing & Graphics to assess the damage: Tear gas permeated the shop. Copy machines and other electronics were ruined. Holes had been punched through doors, windows and the roof.
On Wednesday, Pena, 56, sued the city of Los Angeles, alleging that LAPD officers destroyed his life’s work and that city officials then spent months ignoring requests to cover the repairs. In a nine-page lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Central California, Pena does not accuse police of wrongdoing when they allegedly did more than $60,000 worth of damage to his business, because that’s what officers needed to do to keep the public safe, said Suranjan Sen, a lawyer with Institute for Justice, a nonprofit representing Pena. But Pena shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences — the city should pay to repair the damage, he said.
{snip}
By Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, he covered public safety for The Virginian-Pilot and Lincoln Journal Star. Twitter https://twitter.com/jonathanreports