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Crime & Safety

Comedian Sues Police Over Alleged Wrongful Arrest [Video]

Comic John Campanelli says he was falsely jailed by L.A. County Sheriff's deputies for eight hours.

Comedian John Campanelli is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, alleging he was falsely accused of drunken driving after a traffic accident and jailed for eight hours, court papers show.

Campanelli filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging assault and civil battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment. He is asking for unspecified damages.

"As with all lawsuits, we look forward to telling the whole story," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. "The whole story is not being told right now."

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According to the suit filed Thursday, Campanelli worked shows at the Vegan House and the in West Hollywood last summer. He says he was leaving early on the morning of Aug. 6 when his car was hit by a sport-utility vehicle driven by a drunken woman.

Campanelli, in shock, got out of his car and asked for help, but both a nearby "peace officer" and the male passenger in the vehicle that hit his car yelled obscenities at him, according to the lawsuit.

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Campanelli was assisted by someone from the Comedy Store and eventually taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was interviewed by a deputy who asked him to admit he was driving while intoxicated, the suit alleges.  

The comedian had consumed part of a glass of vodka two hours before the accident and was not inebriated, the suit says.

The deputy insisted that Campanelli's blood be drawn, then took him in handcuffs to the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station, where he was taunted by another deputy making "monkey calls," according to the suit.

He says the same deputy cut off his attempt to make a collect call to his parents in New York.

Campanelli says he was never read his Miranda rights and eventually had to hire an attorney to get him cleared of the false drunken driving allegations. He says he has suffered lost income and emotional distress.

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