When officers found Allen unconscious in his car, they pulled him out, tried to handcuff him and forced him to the ground, according to the complaint. As officers pinned Allen to the ground, one of them struck him twice in the knee with a baton, according to the complaint, which was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Allen, 29, told The Washington Post that the injury derailed his ambitions to move abroad to pursue his professional basketball career in Europe or New Zealand.
“I’ve never had a knee injury in 20 years of playing basketball,” Allen said. “I get in police custody for less than two minutes, and now my career is over. It’s really tough.”
The Elk Grove Police Department declined to comment on the pending litigation. The city of Elk Grove did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit did not include the full names of all the officers.
Allen, who played college basketball at San Diego State, spent five seasons in the NBA’s developmental G League after graduating in 2017. Between 2021 and 2022, he played for G League Ignite, a team then based in Walnut Creek, California.
On the evening of Oct. 14, 2022, Allen was driving home from a wine tasting, he said. He pulled over and parked near a neighbor’s house after “recognizing he shouldn’t be driving” and fell asleep in his car, the lawsuit said. His neighbors mistook him for a shooting victim and called police, the lawsuit said.
Responding officers found Allen unconscious and said he appeared intoxicated, according to body camera footage of the incident. Officers pulled Allen out of the car, pressed him against the car and attempted to handcuff him, the video shows. Allen can be heard telling officers to “relax” as they tell him to stop tensing up and resisting. Officers then forced Allen to the ground, according to the video, which cuts away as Allen is taken to the ground.
One of the officers who forced Allen to the ground tripped over Allen’s legs and fell with him, the lawsuit said. Video shows the officer striking Allen twice in the legs with a baton while Allen was held down by other officers.
Officers continued to hold Allen on the ground for several minutes, then placed him in a full-body restraint that immobilized his arms and legs, the video shows. According to the complaint, the officers caused Allen further pain in his knee. The officers took Allen to a Sacramento hospital and then to a jail, according to the complaint.
A video shows officers discussing Allen’s arrest after he was arrested. The officers, who repeatedly commented on Allen’s height and build, accused him of being tense and resisting throughout the incident. The officer who struck Allen can be heard telling a colleague, “Okay, let’s get the baton out, to hell with this,” as he described the arrest.
Officers said they were not injured during the arrest.
John Burris, Allen’s attorney, said the officers “overreacted and became overly aggressive when they should not have been.”
“(Allen) was not causing any harm to anyone in any way,” Burris said.
Allen said he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and his license was reinstated after completing a three-month training program.
The fractures in his right knee left Allen, once a nimble defender, unable to move laterally on the court without pain, he said. Allen, who said he has already signed six-figure contracts in the NBA G League, has not signed with another NBA G League team in 2022 and has abandoned plans to contact international teams. He has not played professional basketball since.
“It’s unfair,” Allen said. “I can’t really find the words to describe the pain.”
washingtonpost
