The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is facing a lawsuit after a cannabis raid went wrong and saw one officer’s weapon pulled into an MRI machine.
The suit, spotted by Law360, was filed by owners of NoHo Diagnostic Center, who allege their business was wrongly targeted by the LAPD.
Last year, the LAPD raided the medical business based on the smell of cannabis and higher-than-normal energy use.
But the officers found no cannabis; only medical imaging equipment used for X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and MRIs.
While searching the business, one officer had their rifle sucked into an MRI machine, a magnetic imaging device.
The officers on scene used the machine’s emergency release button, causing the MRI to shut down and lose “thousands of liters of helium gas.”
The business is suing the LAPD, the city and several officers for alleged constitutional rights violations and unspecified damages.
