Senior Bank Executive Files $50M Suit Against LAPD Over Alleged Brutality

EAGLE ROCK (CBSLA.com) — A banking executive claiming he was brutally beaten by officers has filed a $50-million lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department.

Pictures which lawyers won't release show gruesome injuries allegedly inflicted by officers on Deutsche Bank executive Brian Mulligan.

"We don't really know how all this happened or why it happened," according to Mulligan's lawyer, Michael Flanagan.

The 52-year-old is a major player in the international finance and entertainment business.

"He is a sqeeky clean business executive," Flanagan said.

The attorney spoke out on camera Thursday for the first time about what, he said, was excessive use on the part of LAPD officers.

Flanagan said his client suffered a tremendous blow to the face that left Mulligan with 15 fractures to his nose and required 54 stitches to close up the lacerations.

Mulligan filed a civil lawsuit claim against the LAPD this week with damages listed at $50 million.

"We'd like to find out what their motivation was -- why did they do this?" Flanagan said.

According to the LAPD, two officers were responding to a radio call on May 15 at a Jack In The Box restaurant in Eagle Rock.

"The first call came in about….a man getting into cars at the drive-thru…" LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman said.

Mulligan appeared "out of it" and said he was tired," Neiman said.

Officers said they found $5,000 in cash in Mulligan's car. Upon his request, officers said they dropped the bank executive at the Highland Park Motel on York Boulevard.

"They give the motel keeper his keys and said do not give them back to him till tomorrow morning…why?" Flanagan said.

"They did what they felt was in the best interest of public safety. He was not in any condition to drive and transported him to a hotel," Neiman said.

Flanagan said the husband, and father of two, was detained without probable cause.

"He is totally bewildered as to what happened," said Flanagan, who said the experience was "very traumatic" for Mulligan.

Police told us hours later the same two officers responded to another call a few blocks away from the motel.

"He was in the middle of the street running through traffic, getting into vehicles," Neiman said.

"He thought he was being set up...thought coast clear and went out and tried to get away from that place as fast as he could," Flanagan said.

Police say he defied officers' orders to get out of the street and went into a fighting stance, charging at them.

Neiman maintains that officers weren't wrong for responding with force to Mulligan's allegedly aggressive actions.

The officers' reaction left Mulligan with injuries that Neiman admits required hospitalization.

Resident Gordon Huang lives near where the incident occurred. He said he remembers waking up to the commotion when he heard a "guy screaming, 'Don't beat me up' and calling out for help."