Ronald Weekley, Jr. v. City of Los Angeles

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff-Appellant Ronald Weekley, Jr. appeals following a nine-day jury trial, which resulted in a verdict in favor of Defendants the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”) Officers Reynoso, Gonzalez, Ulloa, and Morales. Weekley claims that the trial court erred in allowing some of the testimony of a defense expert, psychiatrist Dr. Rosenberg, and that the jury instructions misstated the law and misled the jury. We affirm.

The events giving rise to this lawsuit began in August 2012 as Weekley was riding home on his skateboard. At trial, Weekley testified that he got off his skateboard at an intersection and was walking on the sidewalk with his skateboard in hand when a patrol vehicle passed him. In contrast, LAPD Officers Reynoso and Gonzalez, the two officers initially at the scene, testified that they saw Weekley skateboarding in the street (rather than carrying it on the sidewalk) and that they had to brake their police vehicle suddenly to avoid being hit by Weekley. Officer Gonzalez testified that he exited his patrol to try to talk to Weekley. When Weekley failed to stop, Gonzalez reached out to Weekley and Weekley pulled away. Week-ley…