Matthew Renda | Courthouse News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) – A student filed a federal lawsuit against campus police at California State University, San Jose, claiming officers roughed him up and then yelled at him to “stop bleeding all over” the squad car.
Alen Chen was slammed to the ground face first by San Jose State University police officers, violently handcuffed, repeatedly punched in the face and the body and then had a bag placed over his head in the back of police cruiser after he was asked to leave a concert in April 2015, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Wednesday.
Chen says the actions of the five officers amounted to excessive force and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The incident occurred as Chen and a group of fellow students waited in line for a concert taking place at the university’s event center.
One of Chen’s friends got into an argument with a member of the event’s security staff and his and Chen’s tickets were promptly confiscated. Chen protested, saying he shouldn’t be punished just for being affiliated with someone who may or may not have done something wrong, but was ordered to leave anyway, according to his complaint.
He says he headed toward home, which was in the direction of the end of the entrance line for the concert, and he stopped to chat with some other friends.
SJSU police officers Munir Edais and Jonathan Silva then approached him, according to the complaint.
“Sup bro… Didn’t they tell you to go?” Officer Edais asked Chen as he stood talking to friends, according to the complaint.
The two officers then immediately slammed Chen to the ground face first, breaking his teeth – which required emergency dental surgery to repair, Chen says.
Although Chen was unconscious, the officers repeatedly yelled at him to stop resisting, handcuffed him violently and then dragged him away from the crowd.
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