When officers found Allen unconscious in his car, they pulled him from the vehicle, attempted to handcuff him and wrestled him to the ground, according to the lawsuit. As the officers pinned Allen to the ground, one of them struck him twice in the knee with a baton, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Allen, 29, told The Washington Post that the injury dashed his dreams of moving overseas to continue his professional basketball career in Europe or New Zealand.
“I’ve never injured my knee in 20 years of playing basketball,” Allen said. “My career was over before I was even detained by the police for two minutes, so it’s really tough.”
The Elk Grove Police Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation. The city of Elk Grove did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit does not list the full names of all the officers.
Allen, who played college basketball at San Diego State University, graduated in 2017 and spent five seasons in the NBA’s development league, the G League. From 2021 to 2022, he played for the G League Ignite, a team then based in Walnut Creek, California.
Allen was reportedly on his way home from a wine tasting on the evening of Oct. 14, 2022. He “realized he should not be driving,” parked his car near a neighbor’s house and fell asleep in the car, according to the lawsuit. The neighbors mistook him for a shooting victim and called police, according to the lawsuit.
Officers who responded to the scene found Allen unconscious and said he appeared to be intoxicated, body camera footage shows. Officers pulled Allen from the car, pushed him against the vehicle and attempted to handcuff him, the footage shows. Allen can be heard telling officers to “calm down” and officers ordered Allen to stop straining and resisting. Officers then pushed Allen to the ground, the video shows, with the audio muted as Allen was taken down.
According to the lawsuit, one of the officers who shoved Allen to the ground tripped over Allen’s leg and fell with him. Video shows the officer striking Allen twice in the leg with a baton while other officers hold him down.
Officers held Allen on the ground for several minutes, then applied full-body restraints to immobilize his arms and legs, the video shows. The restraints caused further pain to Allen’s knees, according to the lawsuit. Officers took Allen to a Sacramento hospital and then to jail, according to the lawsuit.
The video shows officers discussing the arrest after Allen is taken into custody. They repeatedly comment on Allen’s height and build and criticize him for being nervous and resisting throughout the incident. The officer who punched Allen can be heard telling his colleague, “Okay, I’m bringing out my baton, that’s it” as he describes the arrest.
Officers said no one was injured during the arrest.
Allen’s lawyer, John Burris, said the officers “unnecessarily overreacted and became overly aggressive.”
“(Allen) was not harming anyone in any way,” Burris said.
Allen said he was charged with drunk driving and had his license reinstated after completing a three-month education program.
Once a swift defender, Allen said a fractured right knee left him unable to move laterally on the court without pain. Allen, who once signed a six-figure contract in the NBA G League, did not sign with another NBA G League team in 2022 and abandoned plans to contact teams overseas. He has not played professional basketball since.
“It’s so unfair,” Allen said. “I can’t find the words to describe the pain.”
