Here’s everything we know about Nava’s lawsuit against an LAPD officer for use of excessive force.
Browsing Facebook earlier last weekend and I came across an emotionally charged video showing a young woman, now known as then 18-year-old Bethany Nava, being grabbed by a police officer from what looked like a subway train, forcibly detained, and led away to be cited properly.
Here’s one of several copies of that video below.
I later learned that the incident was from 2018, and, despite the video and incident being several years old, copies of the video still stokes heated debate garnering hundreds, if not thousands, of fresh comments.
Not only are copies of the video still getting views, I found out that, shortly after the incident, Nava retained legal council, sued the police officer for excessive force, and, till this day, her case is slowly making its way through LA County’s judicial system.
With that in mind, let’s quickly go over the series of events that lead us to today.
On Jan 22, 2018, Nava was travelling on a Los Angeles Metro Redline train on her way home from school when she was asked by a patrolling police sergeant to remove her feet off of another subway seat.
In a press conference held a few days after the incident, Nava does admit she did have her feet on the back of the seat in front of her, “for a brief time.”
The sergeant, presumably not satisfied with how Nava responded, then orders Nava off the train.
When his words don’t work, he resorts to force, pulling Nava by her arm.
The sergeant eventually succeeds getting her off the train and briefly detains her against a nearby wall.
Selena Lechuga, a bystander, comes to Nava’s defense and, despite requests from the sergeant to back off, she remains close to Nava as emotional support.
Both Nava and Lechuga were detained and cited.
We eventually learn Nava was cited for being, “loud and unruly on a train,” a charge she was found not guilty of several months later in May.
Lechuga was charged with one count of battery on a peace officer which stemmed from, as seen on the video at 7:27, Lechuga spitting on the sergeant as she’s led away in cuffs.
As Nava’s press conference posted above Lechuga’s shows, she did not stop at a simple, “found not guilty” of her original charge.
Nava, under direction of her retained legal council, filed a personal injury lawsuit, suing for an unspecified amount, against the sergeant for using excessive force in a case titled, “Bethany Nava Et Al vs. City of Los Angeles Et Al.”
According to the publically available docket, the case has been making its way through Los Angeles County’s judicial system.
Here’s a screenshot of the case’s latest activity.
As you can see, Nava’s case is, after much delay, finally headed to jury trial scheduled for February 27, 2023.
There’s a chance the jury trial might be delayed again because, as the docket shows, it’s happened at least once before.
We likely won’t hear any update or specifics of the outcome of the case until later in 2023 and possibly into 2024.
I’ll check up on Nava’s case from time-to-time and will update this blog post accordingly.
