The incident happened as families celebrated at a Halloween party for children on Oct. 31, 2010. The homeowners were dressed up in costumes as a gorilla and a banana. The music was playing and police allegedly arrived to ask them to turn it off.
Then for some reason things escalated and police moved in.
Amateur video shows LAPD officers swinging batons and knocking people to the ground. The people involved say there was no reason for this.
"He started pushing and he didn't care. He just started hitting everybody, kids, women," said Gaby Moran, one of the alleged victims.
Moran and her husband Danny say the music was already turned off by the time police arrived. They feel from the beginning a LAPD sergeant was very angry and confrontational.
"He told me, 'I need your ID.' I turned around again and he grabbed me by the neck and he launched me against the gate. When he launched me against the gate, I hit my forehead on the gate and I went down, and then my guests got up. I guess he wanted to show his power, he took out his long baton stick and he ended up striking me," said Danny Moran.
The family says they preserved some evidence.
Attorney Luis Carrillo filed a lawsuit against the LAPD and the city of Los Angeles.
"LAPD lacks training of its officers. The level of professionalism that we need to protect and to serve the residents is non-existent," said Carillo.
The LAPD issued a statement that says, in part: "This video that was presented today is an example of an incident that needs to be investigated. We welcome the questioning of actions that may, at face value, appear to be inappropriate."
Danny Moran, who has dozens of awards for coaching children's soccer, says the pain of the officer's baton was nothing compared to the pain in his daughter's eyes. He and his wife say their daughter was hit by a baton as well.
"She was crying," said Gaby Moran. "She was saying, 'Please stop hitting my dad. Please stop. You are here to protect, so please stop hitting my dad.'"
After reviewing the tape, the district attorney and the city attorney decided to drop all charges against the three people that were arrested at the party.
