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Civil rights Keyed to Jeffries, 5th Ed.
City of Los Angeles v. Lyons
Citation:
461 U.S. 95 (1983)Facts
On October 6, 1976, at approximately 2 a.m., Adolph Lyons was pulled over by Los Angeles police officers for a traffic violation (a burned-out taillight). Although Lyons offered no resistance or threat, the officers, without provocation, applied a “chokehold” that rendered him unconscious and caused damage to his larynx. When Lyons regained consciousness, he was lying face down on the ground, choking, gasping for air, and spitting up blood. He had urinated and defecated involuntarily. He was issued a traffic citation and released.
Lyons filed a complaint seeking damages, injunctive relief, and declaratory relief against the City of Los Angeles and the officers involved. He alleged that the LAPD, pursuant to city policy, routinely and frequently used chokeholds in situations where officers faced no threat of deadly force. Evidence showed that between 1975 and 1982, at least 16 people had died following the use of chokeholds by LAPD officers, with a disproportionate number being Black males. The city’s written policy authorized chokeholds to subdue resistance, not merely to counter deadly threats.
After the case reached the Supreme Court, but before oral argument, the LAPD implemented changes to its chokehold policy, including a moratorium on the use of the carotid-artery chokehold except in deadly force situations. However, this moratorium was not permanent.
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