LOS ANGELES — A local rapper has filed a $10 million claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department after deputies pointed a handgun at the unarmed motorist while warning him he would get "one to the chest" during a tense confrontation on New Year's Eve.
Darral Scott, also known as Feezy Lebron, alleges in the claim that the deputies used unlawful force to illegally detain him and search him and his car, and threatened to kill him, leaving him traumatized, unable to sleep and suffering panic attacks.
"I was scared to death," Scott said during a press conference Wednesday, after the claim was filed. "I didn't think I was going to make it home to see my kids."
The confrontation is already the subject of an internal investigation, the department said in a statement. Sheriff's officials did not respond to a request for comment about the claim.
According to the Sheriff's Department, two deputies approached Scott while he was sitting in his car at about 5:45 p.m. in the 14900 block of Crenshaw Boulevard in Gardena.
The deputies had noted there was a missing license plate on the vehicle, but body camera footage released by the department shows the incident quickly escalated, with one deputy pointing his handgun into the car while Scott had his hands raised.
Video shows one deputy reaching into the car as if to pull Scott out. The second deputy then approaches the driver's side of the car and starts to shake a can of pepper spray.
"Alright, I'm just gonna spray him, dude, watch out," he tells his partner. "Get out or you're getting sprayed."
"Get out for what?" Scott is heard asking repeatedly.
The deputy then pulls out his handgun and points it at Scott, according to the footage.
"You take off in this car, I'm [gonna] shoot you," the deputy said. "I'm going to make it super easy on you. You put this car on drive, you're getting one to the chest. I don't care what you got, I don't care if you got bull— on you but, guess what bro, now you gotta deal with it."
Scott is handcuffed and detained. He was released with a ticket for a missing license plate.
According to the claim, which is usually filed as a precursor to a lawsuit, attorneys for Scott say he suffered pain and bruising from the handcuffs, and anguish and terror at having his life threatened.
"[Scott] continues to suffer panic attacks, is unable to sleep, and is afraid to drive," the claim reads.
The claim also alleges that days after the incident, deputies forced him to wait more than four hours at a Sheriff's Department office when he tried to file a complaint over the incident.
The deputies, according to the claim, "retaliated against him, including by lying to him about their purported inability to take his complaint."
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