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ilbegone
12-30-2009, 02:18 PM
Riverside pays $175,000 to settle civil rights case

December 29, 2009

By ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise

The city of Riverside has agreed to pay $175,000 to a Los Angeles police officer who claimed Riverside police racially profiled him and violated his civil rights.

Wayne Guillary, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, submitted a $5 million claim after a 2008 incident at his home in an upscale Riverside neighborhood. The city rejected the claim and he then filed a lawsuit.

Guillary, who is black, claimed he was talking with a saleswoman on his own property Oct. 7, 2008, when Riverside police Officer Carlos Vasquez accused him of trespassing, threatened him with a Taser and a gun, made him lie on the ground and handcuffed and searched him. He was not arrested.

Guillary also claimed Vasquez filed a false report about the incident that led LAPD to open an internal investigation of him.

Under the $175,000 settlement that ends the suit, the city admits no wrongdoing and Guillary agrees not to comment on the case for two years. The settlement was reached Oct. 28 and made public earlier this month.

City officials have never discussed the lawsuit other than to say it had no merit. City Attorney Greg Priamos on Tuesday declined comment. An attorney for Guillary could not be reached.