{"id":919295,"date":"2026-07-07T20:07:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/919295\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T20:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:07:19","slug":"la-county-to-pay-3m-to-settle-suit-by-victims-of-excessive-force-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/919295\/","title":{"rendered":"LA County to pay $3M to settle suit by victims of excessive force \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a politically charged 2023 case against a Los Angeles deputy who was convicted of using excessive force against two people in Lancaster, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $3 million payout to the victims. <\/p>\n

The three-year ordeal began in June 2023 at a Lancaster WinCo Foods store when deputies responded to a call about a possible robbery. Then-Deputy Trevor Kirk handcuffed a man, Damon Barnes, who matched the suspect’s description as another person recorded the deputies with her phone. <\/p>\n

Kirk then approached the woman, Jacy Houseton, grabbed her phone and forcefully threw her to the ground, according to court documents. He also pepper-sprayed the woman in the face twice, court papers stated. <\/p>\n

In February 2025, Kirk was found guilty<\/a> of violating federal civil rights by using excessive force against Houseton. The former deputy was also accused of making a misleading report against his victims, saying he was in a fight.<\/p>\n

The board Tuesday did not hold a discussion about the settlement for Barnes and Houseton.<\/p>\n

In a report to the Board of Supervisors recommending the $3 million lawsuit settlement, county attorneys cited “the risks and uncertainties of litigation,” noting that the settlement “will avoid further litigation costs.” <\/p>\n

The county has already paid more than $200,000 in attorneys’ fees stemming from the case, according to the report. <\/p>\n

Kirk was sentenced to four months in prison after then-newly appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli intervened<\/a> in June 2025, significantly reducing his original sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Essayli had said he requested Kirk’s charge be reduced to a misdemeanor after determining Kirk’s actions did not rise to the level of a felony.<\/p>\n

Barnes nor Houseton were not charged with a crime stemming from their initial arrest, LA County said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a politically charged 2023 case against a Los Angeles deputy who was convicted of using excessive force…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":919296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,13459,224,49570,5337],"class_list":["post-919295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-la","tag-lancaster","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county-sheriffs-department","tag-losangeles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116880503345272908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}