Emmett Wilks, Jr. v. Julio Gonzales Reyes

ORDER

The opinion filed September 20, 1993, is hereby amended as follows:

With these amendments, Appellant’s Petition for Rehearing filed September 27, 1993, is DENIED and Appellee’s Motion to Correct the Published Opinion filed October 6, 1993, is DENIED.

OPINION

Petitioner Emmett Wilks, Jr., appeals the district court’s entry of judgment against him following a jury trial in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The parties give two very different accounts of the facts of this ease. According to Wilks, he was attending a school picnic in Kenneth Hahn Park in Los Angeles, when he encountered Los Angeles County Park Police Officer Julio Gonzales Reyes. Apparently without provocation, Reyes made several racially derogatory remarks to Wilks and threatened him, his family, and his friends. Reyes then grabbed Wilks’ shoulder and slammed him against a car, holding him there for approximately one minute.

According to Reyes, he was on patrol in the park when he encountered Wilks and several other six to ten year-old children. When he drove by the…