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Salinas (California) Police Harassment, False Arrest Suit Settles For $90,000

San Mateo County (California) Superior Court staff Paralegal and youth football coach, Maurice Goodman, brought a § 1983 action for civil rights violations against the City of Salinas and police for being falsely arrested in 2005. The suit settled for $90,000 on June 12, 2007.

In Salinas with his football team and family for a weekend game, Goodman was accosted policeman Joel Anaya while walking to his car to order pizza. He was questioned about drugs and his presence at the Travel Lodge. He replied that he had done nothing wrong and asked Anaya to call his superior and turned to walk away. Anaya grabbed his shoulder and accused Goodman of hitting him while holding a taser device. Goodman pressed the panic button on hi car alarm key chain to draw attention to the incident. Policemen Kendall Gray, Giro Barboza Perez and Ben Smith arrived claiming that Goodman’s keys were a weapon and that he was a threat. He was arrested but subsequently acquitted although he missed the game he was in town for. The suit settled in 2007 with no admission of guilt. See: Goodman v. City of Salinas, USDC ND CA, Case No. 5:06 cv 07161 JF.

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Related legal case

Goodman v. City of Salinas