A Disney production assistant working on ‘Grey’s Anatomy‘ is suing the Los Angeles Police Department for $20 million, claiming he was racially profiled and arrested at gunpoint without any probable cause in front of the show’s cast and crew simply because he was ‘a black man in the wrong neighborhood.’
Ernest Simon Jr., 31, filed the federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California on Thursday, alleging a dozen violations of his constitutional rights, including unreasonable search and seizure, assault, arrest without probable cause, racial profiling, excessive force, negligence, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit, which names as defendants the LAPD, the City of Los Angeles, Police Chief Michel Moore and 20 officers, claims that in March 2021, Simon was driving through a mostly white LA neighborhood after dropping off ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ crew members on set when he was targeted by cops, who somehow mistook his rented Ford van for a stolen BMW sedan.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore (pictured) has been named a defendant in a $20million federal lawsuit that was filed on Thursday by Ernest Simon Jr, a black man working on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ who claimed to have been racially profiled by cops
According to the 34-page complaint, the officers pulled Simon out of the van he was driving at gunpoint, forced him to lie on the ground spread-eagle for 20 minutes, called for backup and double-handcuffed him, even though he showed no resistance and was fully cooperative.
Even after a security guard and a black colleague of Simon’s vouched for him, saying that he was employed by Disney and was operating the van as part of his job, the complaint claims that the police officers continued detaining him.
It was not until a white co-worker went to the officers and reiterated that Simon was authorized to drive the rented van that police finally let the man go, according to the complaint.
The LAPD has not commented on the lawsuit.
Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey’s Anatomy, told The Hollywood Reporter that what happened to Simon was ‘beyond unacceptable’ and expressed her support for the employee.
On March 18, 2021, Simon, who is employed by the Walt Disney Company’s General Entertainment Division, was working as a driver for the production of ABC’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ now in its 18th season, when his day ‘took a drastic turn,’ the complaint says.
On that day, the medical drama was being shot in the Tarzana neighborhood, where the population is more than 70 percent white.
The production was using as its staging area, dubbed ‘Basecamp,’ the fenced-in playground at Gaspar De Portola Middle School, which was swarming with crew members and filled with parked vehicles, including a fleet of rented black Ford Transit vans identical to the one Simon was driving that day, according to the lawsuit.
The incident took place at a middle school in Tarzana, California (pictured), where ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was being shot
At around 4.30pm, Simon was returning to the Basecamp from dropping off crew members on set when he stopped at an intersection alongside an LAPD squad car with two police officers inside.
‘Mr Simon was not speeding,’ the complaint notes. ‘He did not run through a red light or stop sign. Nor did he did he… commit any other traffic offenses that would raise suspicion or warrant a traffic stop.’
According to the lawsuit, the officers in the police car made eye contact with Simon, saw that he was a ‘tall and heavily built African American male,’ and then proceeded to trail his van for several blocks, even though there was no probable cause to suspect that he had committed any crime.
The LAPD later said that while they were following Simon’s van, the officers ran his license plate through their automated system, which erroneously alerted them that the van’s plate matched a BMW sedan that had been reported stolen.
Instead of verifying the reading, the complaint alleges, the cops chose to ignore ‘the obvious fact that Mr Simon was not driving a BMW sedan.’
As Simon pulled into the Basecamp at the school, the officers initiated what is known as a ‘high risk’ traffic stop, which is typically reserved for situations involving an armed suspect, or where there is a risk that a violent crime is about to be committed.
A security guard at the site told the officers that Simon was a Disney employee and was authorized to be at the Basecamp, but they allegedly ignored his explanation and confronted the 31-year-old with their guns drawn.
‘Other than their implicit bias against Mr Simon’s race and appearance there was no reason for [the officers] to believe that Mr Simon posed any threat,’ the complaint alleges.
The 31-year-old driver ‘was respectful and fully cooperative’ as he attempted to explain to the gun-toting officers that he worked for the TV production and that the van he was driving was rented by Disney for the shoot.
Simon’s job was to drive cast and crew of the long-running ABC medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
But the officers rejected Simon’s explanation, removed him from the van at gunpoint and ordered him to lie face down and prone on the hot asphalt in front of his co-workers. The lawsuit states that the man remained in that position for 20 minutes, constituting ‘a de facto arrest.’
The lawsuit notes that although Simon was unarmed and did not pose any threat, the two first cops on the scene called for backup, summoning seven additional squad cars and a helicopter to the scene.
As Simon was lying on the ground, surrounded by some 20 officers pointing their guns at him, several crew members tried to tell them that he was an employee, and that the van was not stolen. In response, cops yelled at the bystanders to ‘get out of the line of fire,’ which led Simon to fear for his life, the lawsuit alleges.
After the officers searched the van and found no evidence that a crime had been committed, one of Simon’s co-workers, who is also black, again tried to explain that Simon was just doing his job in his capacity as a driver for the production.
‘Just as they refused to listen to Mr. Simon, the [officers] refused to believe Mr. Simon’s African American co-worker, whose explanation corroborated both the security guard and Mr. Simon’s statements,’ the court filing states.
About 20 minutes into the ordeal, cops double-handcuffed Simon and pushed him against a squad car in front of his colleagues.
Simon was finally released from custody 10 minutes later, but only after a white colleague reiterated to the police what the security guard and the man’s black co-worker had told them already: that the van was rented and that Simon was a Disney employee.
‘Given that the [officers] received the same information three times before Mr. Simon’s white co-worker spoke to them, the [defendants] had a reasonable opportunity to prevent the violation of Mr. Simon’s constitutional rights had they been so inclined. However, motivated by racial animus and their implicit bias, [they] intentionally, with malice and reckless indifference to Mr. Simon’s rights, failed to do so,’ the document concluded.