By Julia Marnin
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Police Department suspected a medical center was secretly growing marijuana and searched the facility in a raid that left an MRI machine damaged after an officer’s “loose” rifle got stuck onto it, a federal lawsuit says.
There was no basis for the raid, according to a complaint, which says it was illegal and supported by one officer’s lies.
The LAPD officers didn’t find any cannabis plants at Noho Diagnostic Center, in Los Angeles’ Van Nuys neighborhood Oct. 18, 2023, but they continued to “roam freely” around the facility after releasing an employee they detained, according to a complaint filed Sept. 18.
One officer walked over to an MRI office, where a sign warned of a strong magnetic field — saying “metal parts and medical instruments of all types prohibited” — with his rifle dangling in his hand, according to the complaint.
He looked at the sign, opened the office’s door and went inside with his weapon, the complaint says.
The gun flew out of the officer’s hand as it was pulled by the MRI machine’s “magnetic force” and got stuck on the equipment, according to the complaint.
Instead of consulting with medical staff, another LAPD officer broke the seal of an emergency button and pressed it, deactivating the MRI machine, the complaint says.
The MRI machine’s magnet quickly lost “superconductivity,” and about 2,000 liters of helium gas evaporated, damaging the machine, according to the complaint.
The officer who had the rifle retrieved his weapon, walked out of the room and left behind a loaded magazine on the floor, the complaint says.
“The whole operation was nothing short of a disorganized circus, with no apparent rules, procedures, or even a hint of coordination,” the complaint says.
Noho Diagnostic Center and the business’ chief financial officer are suing the city of Los Angeles , the LAPD, several officers and former Police Chief Michel Moore for violating the Fourth Amendment and negligence.
The city and the police department didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment Sept. 26.
According to the lawsuit, the raid of Noho Diagnostic Center stemmed from an LAPD officer’s application for a search warrant.
The officer said there had been a noise complaint about the medical center’s air conditioning units, and cannabis was possibly being cultivated inside, the complaint says.
He repeatedly surveilled the property in 2023 and reported the “distinct odor of live cannabis plant and not the odor of dried cannabis being smoked” — as well as tinted windows, security cameras and two people dressed similarly, according to the complaint.
The officer believed these were signs of a hidden marijuana growing operation, and efforts to expand it, the complaint says.
He also found that the medical center wasn’t licensed to grow cannabis and, because of this discovery, determined the facility was violating California’s health and safety code, according to the complaint.
The officer considered his observations as “probable cause for cannabis cultivation,” and a search warrant was issued, the complaint says.
According to the complaint, his false statements supporting the search warrant led to the LAPD’s “unlawful and unreasonable” raid of the medical facility, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The complaint accuses the LAPD of further violating the Fourth Amendment by damaging property during the raid.
“The extensive damage to Plaintiffs’ property was neither accidental nor incidental to the effective execution of the search warrant, but rather the result of an unreasonable and/or recklessly indifferent LAPD Officer walking into an already searched and cleared MRI room with his rifle carelessly dangling in one hand,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages and demands a jury trial.
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