A Black family wrongfully accused of car theft has been awarded $8.25 million in damages, according to court documents.
The incident took place at a Bay Area Starbucks where two White police officers accused them of stealing a car and forcefully pulled them out of their vehicle. There were three women, a mother and her two daughters in the car at the time the incident happened, and they claim race played a part in why they were targeted.
Aasylei Loggervale and her daughters Aaottae, then 17, and 19-year-old Aasylei Hardege-Loggervale of Las Vegas were all subsequently awarded the money in damages because of a new California law called the Bane Act, which allows any monetary damages to be tripled if a court finds that a person’s civil rights have been violated.
In a lawsuit Loggervale and her daughters filed after the incident, they stated that they were traveling in the area when sheriff’s deputies arrested and detained them in connection with a string of auto thefts.
At the time of the incident, deputies told the family that they were investigating “car burglaries committed by unidentified Black men,” prosecutors said.
Jurors found that the law personnel were negligent in their interaction with the family and set damages at $2.75 million per plaintiff.
“This is vindication and validation for the Loggervales that they’ve been wronged, and that means a lot,” their attorney Craig Peters said in a statement.
Alameda County, where the incident took place, has until the end of March to file an appeal.
Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez told NBC that “the community’s trust in my agency is foundational to my mission of maintaining a positive relationship with those we serve. The facts of this case are extremely important to me and our community members, however, I must reserve my comments until the case has been fully adjudicated through the court system.”
