San Diego bike cops to face civil rights claims over controversial downtown arrest

Allowing the claims to proceed, a federal judge cited a history of excessive force and unlawful arrests by the police department's bike team.SAN DIEGO (CN) — A federal judge will allow two plaintiffs to proceed with a civil rights lawsuit against the San Diego Police Department after what the plaintiffs describe as a violent arrest during an incident downtown last year.Those two plaintiffs — George Medina and Araceli Urbina Viveros — accuse the police department, its police chief and various officers of unlawful detention, excessive force and arrest without probable cause, along with First Amendment retaliation and other claims.The lawsuit stems from an incident on July 19, 2025. Medina says that just after midnight, he was walking through the city’s Gaslamp Quarter district when without warning or verbal commands, three San Diego police officers tackled him.Medina says that even though he was compliant and did not resist, officers from the city’s bike team beat and pepper-sprayed him.Viveros says she was alarmed at what was happening and attempted to record the incident on her phone. She says she was shoved to the ground by one officer, then by another when she tried to stand up.In its motion to dismiss the claims, the San Diego Police Department argued the plaintiffs failed to connect the department to the actions of individual officers. But U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel left much of the lawsuit intact, only dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims against a group of 33 unnamed Doe defendants — and only without prejudice.Curiel, a Barack Obama appointee, previously nixed claims against the city over unlawful seizures and First Amendment violations. But the plaintiffs brought a Monell claim, a type of civil rights claim that holds government entities liable for violations of federal rights.In their amended complaint, they added reports of similar excessive force incidents involving the department’s bike team, including an incident involving San Diego police observer Musluh Abdul-Hafeez. The judge found those allegations sufficient to bring the previously dismissed claims back into the case. He also found that this time, the city’s dismissal arguments fell short.“These additional allegations allege a pattern of a policy, practice or custom of unlawful seizures and First Amendment violations by bike team officers of which the city and policymakers were actually or constructively aware,” he wrote.These incidents also revive claims against Police Chief Scott Wahl, Curiel wrote. “They have also plausibly alleged Chief Wahl was also reckless or callously indifferent to the constitutional rights of plaintiffs."Curiel similarly denied other motions to dismiss, including over claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress and Bane Act violations. He ruled those issues can be decided at discovery.The city argues that the police officers’ conduct during the arrest was justified. It says Medina was resisting arrest and that Urbina was attempting to get in the middle of a police cordon to film. It also says that an unknown woman claimed Medina assaulted her.Police claimed they found a small digital scale and Adderall on Medina. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance and resisting a police officer, but those charges were later dropped.“The dismissal reinforces what the scene itself already demonstrated," the plaintiffs wrote. “There was no lawful basis for the arrest and no justification for the force used.”The San Diego Police Department has come under increasing scrutiny over its use of pepper spray, especially in the Gaslamp Quarter. The city did not respond to a request for comment by press time.Pride Law Firm is representing the plaintiffs. In a statement to Courthouse News, attorney Sophia Rebecca-Marie said the firm is proud of the ruling.“The significance of this ruling extends beyond an isolated incident of police violence,” Rebecca-Marie wrote. “The court recognized that we have plausibly alleged a pattern of misconduct by the San Diego Police Department bike team, and that the city and its leadership, including the chief of police, knew, or at the very least should have known, about it.”“This ruling is an important step toward justice for our clients,” she added, “but also toward holding the SDPD bike team accountable for its ongoing pattern of violence.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads