LOS ANGELES – Former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver DeSean Jackson is suing Los Angeles County and Ralphs Grocery Co., claiming his civil rights were violated when he was wrongfully arrested by a sheriff’s deputy at a Ralphs store in Marina del Rey in 2023 in connection with a car theft.
Jackson also accuses him of negligence and false imprisonment. In the lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, he is demanding an unspecified amount of damages.
“Defendant Ralphs has a history of discriminating against African-American men shopping at its store based on the color of their skin, thereby violating their civil rights,” the lawsuit states.
Representatives of the district and Ralphs were not immediately available for comment.
Jackson, now 37, went to the Ralphs store on Lincoln Boulevard around 6:30 p.m. on June 25, 2023, and was shopping when he was arrested by an officer who told the plaintiff that his arrest was “in connection with a guy who was stealing from the store,” the lawsuit states.
Jackson was handcuffed and not informed of his rights before being painfully placed in a patrol car and later taken to the police station where he was held for several hours, the lawsuit says.
A Ralphs security guard knew the deputy was arresting the wrong person because he had a photograph of the actual car theft suspect – whose only resemblance to Jackson was that he was also black. Yet the guard did not intervene in the plaintiff’s arrest, the lawsuit says.
Jackson believes that the deputy and Ralphs used “implicit bias” to believe that Mr. Jackson posed a serious threat to a person’s safety and then falsely accused him of being a criminal, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit goes on to say that Jackson has been receiving treatment from both doctors and psychologists for his emotional distress.
Selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft, Jackson has also played for the Rams, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baltimore Ravens. The Los Angeles native was also selected to the Pro Bowl three times and became the first player to be named to the All-Star competition at two different positions in the same year when he was named to the 2010 Pro Bowl as a wide receiver and return specialist.
