A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer pointed a gun at an MRI machine during a marijuana raid, but no live plants were found, SF Gate reported.
The owner of NoHo Diagnostic Center in Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against the Los Angeles Police Department, the City of Los Angeles, and individual officers “for violating the business owners' constitutional rights.” According to SF Gate, the raid was carried out on October 18, 2023, under the assumption that the center was a “front for an illegal cannabis cultivation facility.” This case was also reported on Law360.com.
During the raid, a female employee was detained while police officers searched the premises. No marijuana was found, SF Gate noted. After a search, the woman was released and police asked her to contact the center's director. During that time, the officers “ran freely throughout (the center) and continued to casually converse with each other,” according to the complaint.
“The whole operation was nothing short of a chaotic circus, with no apparent rules, procedures or coordination.”
One police officer entered the MRI room with a rifle in his right hand, despite a sign warning against bringing metal into the room. “As expected, the magnetic field of the MRI machine attracted the LAPD officer's loose rifle and secured it to the machine,” the complaint states. In response, another police officer pressed the emergency stop button to shut down the MRI machine, causing the MRI magnet to “quickly lose its superconductivity, causing approximately 2,000 liters of helium gas to evaporate, causing significant damage to the MRI machine.” “I gave him.” ''The co-pilot then picked up his rifle and left the room, leaving the magazine on the floor.
Tobias Gilk, founder of Gilk Radiology Consultants in Overland Park, Kan., and senior vice president of radiation programs in Mission, Kan., said the incident shows how seriously MRI safety is being taken. This is another example.
“This could have easily killed the officer, or the rifle could have fired and killed any other police officer or employee in the facility,” Gilk told AuntMinnie.com.
The complaint was filed by Haik Yegoyan of YMPK Law Group in Los Angeles on behalf of the center's owner, Ustyana Shaginyan. Shaginian is seeking general and compensatory damages for violations of his federal constitutional and statutory rights. Award covering attorney's fees and litigation costs. and punitive damages.
