Journalist Sues LA County, Ex-LA County Sheriff For Criminally Investigating Her
Former Los Angeles Times reporter Maya Lau, who faced retaliation from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, sued the County of Los Angeles as well as former police officials who allegedly violated her First Amendment rights.
“The misconduct exhibited by the Sheriff’s Department has caused significant harm to Ms. Lau and the freedom of the press,” according to the complaint [PDF], filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. “If LASD’s actions are left unredressed, journalists in Los Angeles will be chilled from reporting on matters of public concern out of fear that they will be investigated and prosecuted.”
Lau said in a released statement that she was pursuing the lawsuit not just for her own sake but also to “send a clear signal in the name of reporters everywhere: We will not be intimidated. The Sheriff’s Department needs to know that these kinds of tactics against journalists are illegal.”
On December 8, 2017, Lau co-authored a bombshell report for the LA Times based on a leaked list that contained the names of around “300 LASD deputies with histories of dishonest or other misconduct that made them open to impeachment as trial witnesses.”
As the complaint additionally recalls, some of the officers on the “Brady List” engaged in sexual assault, fabricated evidence, or used “excessive force.” Yet the deputies were not fired. In fact, several of the officers were promoted.