Boy Riding E-Bike Injured After Hitting Palos Verdes Estates Police Cruiser, Lawsuit Says

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, CA — A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a then-12-year-old boy who was injured when the electric bicycle he was riding struck a Palos Verdes Estates police cruiser that allegedly blocked his path as the child fled in 2024.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges negligence, civil rights violations and assault and battery. The boy seeks unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.

A representative for the Palos Verdes Estates city attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Dec. 24.

According to the complaint, the boy was riding his off-road e-bike along with other minors about 3 p.m. June 14, 2024, near the Malaga Cove Plaza. The boys were gathered near a mini-market when the officers arrived, one on a motorcycle and the other in a cruiser.

The suit states that the juveniles, concerned that their bikes might be seized, dispersed in different directions in a manner predictable and foreseeable among local youths familiar with the PVPD's alleged impound practices.

The plaintiff and another boy rode down a narrow residential street to the Frog Creek recreational trail with the motorcycle officer in pursuit, the suit states. The officer rode his motorcycle in between the two boys as they neared the end of a cul-de-sac, then stopped and told the plaintiff to halt as well, the suit states.

The plaintiff, frightened and thinking as would any youth that he was about to be restrained, panicked and started riding back to the shopping center, the suit states. The officer who was in the cruiser abruptly turned and drove his patrol vehicle sideways across the roadway, blocking the boy's path, according to the suit.

The lightweight bicycle lacked the braking ability or maneuverability to avoid the cruiser and it struck the patrol vehicle, leaving the boy with a fractured right ankle, deep lacerations to his left leg and additional physical and emotional injuries, the suit states.

The boy was transported to the police station and his injuries were bandaged by paramedics, according to the suit, which further states that the bike was impounded and that felony citations were issued to the plaintiff and one of his parents.

The boy's family has had to pay the boy's medical expenses and will continue to have to do so in the future, the suit states.

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