In December 2023, led by Alexander Klein and John LoTurco, Barket Epstein secured a $275,000 settlement on behalf of a downtrodden man with the initials S.L., who had stolen $4.38 in beer from a local 7-11 and then sustained extensive physical injuries in a resulting scuffle with law enforcement.
Upon the intervention of police, S.L. reacted poorly and resisted law enforcement’s attempt to apprehend him. The scuffle was captured on video, which showed police immediately bringing S.L. to the ground and, ultimately, four members of law enforcement on top of him—who was unarmed and had his back, and then his chest, pinned to the pavement. Despite several minutes of footage, there was no clear depiction of the officers throwing punches or kicks. And when they lifted S.L. off the ground, where his face had just been planted, there were no markings of blood. He was then escorted off the scene without visible injury, as confirmed by three different onlookers. Yet by the time S.L. wound up at a nearby hospital the same day, however, his health had changed. His nose was now fractured, his orbital bones had suffered a “blow-out,” and he had suffered internal injury inside his head.
During the course of the representation, Klein secured expert reports demonstrating that the narrative offered by police for how S.L. sustained his injuries was medically implausible, and the case settled on the doorstep of trial.
