Black mom and her two teenage daughters are awarded $8.25 MILLION after white Bay Area officers handcuffed them and detained them for an hour on suspicion of carjacking
- Aasylei Loggervale was traveling in September 2019 from her home in Las Vegas to Berkeley City College in California with her daughters, so that one of them could take a math test.
- The trio stopped at a Starbucks in Castro Valley and officers ordered Aasylei, her daughters Aaottae, 17, and Aasyeli Hardege-Loggervale, 19, to get out of their car.
- On March 1, a jury awarded the Loggervale family $8.25 million in damages, concluding that the trio’s rights were violated.
A black Las Vegas family was awarded $8.25 million in damages after they were pulled from their car at a Starbucks in the Bay Area by two white officers, who were looking for local car thieves.
The three women argued that they were singled out because of their race and that they were awarded the significant sum thanks to California’s Bane Law, which allows any damages awarded to be tripled if attorneys can prove a person’s civil rights were violated.
Aasylei Loggervale was traveling with her daughters Aaottae, then 17, and Aasylei Hardege-Loggervale, 19, in September 2019 when they stopped at the Castro Valley Starbucks.
The trio was headed to Berkeley City College, where one of the teens was due to take a math test. While stopping for coffee and rest, two Alameda County deputies confronted the family and held them for an hour on suspicion of auto theft.
The two deputies, Steven Holland and Monica Pope, were white.
Aasylei Loggervale is seen being removed from her car in September 2019 outside a Starbucks in Castro Valley, California.
The agents told the trio that they were searching for suspects in a series of car thefts.
Loggervale refused to give his identification, asking the officer: ‘What kind of crime did I commit?’
Court documents state: “Loggervale did not want to become further involved with the defendants because, as a black person, she feared that the encounter could result in serious bodily harm or death to herself and/or her daughter.”
She “claimed they had done nothing wrong and had no connection to any carjacking,” the lawsuit says.
Holland then ordered the three family members out of the car and pulled them over, body camera video shows.
The officers, who did not explain why they were being arrested, handcuffed the family and “forced” them into a police car, the lawsuit says.
The family was detained for several minutes, without a citation or charge.
All three had abrasions on their wrists and arms and were suffering “emotional distress, fear (and) shame,” the lawsuit says.
Alameda County Deputy Steven Holland arrested the family
The Netherlands was accompanied by the deputy Mónica Papa
The Loggervale family accused officers of racially profiling them when they stopped the trio while searching for the carjackers.
The jury ruled that the officer’s conduct was “unlawful” and that Holland and Alameda County together must pay $2.75 million to the mother and $2 million to each daughter, while Pope and the county must pay $750,000 to each daughter, according to the Final order.
Craig Peters, one of the attorneys representing the Loggervales, said the family brought the case to bring the officers to justice.
“This is vindication and validation for the Loggervales, who have been wronged and that means a lot,” he said.
They are quite a reserved family.
“But they felt that what had happened was really wrong, so they were willing to sue and try to hold the sheriff’s office accountable.”
Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez said she could not comment.
“The community’s trust in my agency is critical to my mission to maintain a positive relationship with those we serve,” he told CBS News in a statement.
“The facts of this case are extremely important to me and to members of our community, however I must reserve comment until after the case has been fully adjudicated through the court system.”