Simone WilsonDeutsche Bank's head of media and entertainment investing here in Los Angeles doesn't have too much in common with the 99 percent. But his recent allegations against the LAPD make him out to be an average Occupite:
According to TMZ, bank executive Brian Mulligan claims he was forced into a Highland Park motel room by LAPD officers, who then beat him to a pulp.
TMZ also says Mulligan plans to sue the police department and the city…
… for up to $100 million. Although we haven't been able to confirm that number, we do know that Mulligan, managing director and vice chairman of Deutsche Bank's Media and Telecommunications Investment Banking division, has retained the legal services of super-high-profile L.A. attorney J. Michael Flanagan, most (in)famous for representing Michael Jackson's doctor in his “involuntary manslaughter” trial.
(In fact, when we called Flanagan's offices today, his secretary sounded surprised to hear Mulligan's name. “I'm so used to the Conrad Murray case!” she said. Looks like there's a new celebrity client in town.)
We also spoke with LAPD Lieutenant Andy Neiman, who told us the officers' side of the story.
Neiman says that on the night of May 14, around 10:40 p.m., two LAPD officers responded to reports of a crazed man trying to break into cars at the Jack in the Box drive-thru on Eagle Rock Boulevard. And while the officers were en route, he says they “got another call of a man trying to get into vehicles on the street” — a white male with the same description as the suspect in the drive-thru incident, later identified as Mulligan.
When the officers arrived at the scene, according to Neiman, Mulligan seemed completely “out of it.”
So they called for an LAPD drug-recognition expert, who “could not make a determination [that Mulligan was on] anything we normally see or test for,” says the lieutenant. At that point, though, the suspect appeared to be coming down.
“He said, 'Im exhausted. If you guys could just take me to a hotel, I'll be fine,'” Neiman tells LA Weekly.
The cops' story from there: They stopped at Mulligan's car to verify his identity, where they discovered a large amount of cash. A supervisor was called to the scene — “to make sure there were no questions about the money issue” — and determined that no crime had been committed.
However, at 1 a.m. the next morning, on May 15, the same two officers spotted somebody running through traffic in the same area of Highland Park, “trying to get into cars that were moving,” says Neiman. “So they respond again, and recognize that it's Mulligan.”
But the officers allege that when they called Mulligan over to them, he took a fighting stance in the street and began to charge straight toward them.
As it happens, Deutsche Bank is also being sued by L.A. — for alleged slumlord practices.; Credit: L.A. City Attorney's Office
So they took him down. According to Lieutenant Neiman, they wrestled the Deutsche Bank executive to the ground without the use of any weapons — but “during that use of force, he sustained some injuries that required him to be taken to the hospital.”
Mulligan was later booked for “felony interference with the police,” says Neiman. The Los Angeles County District Attorney, however, declined to file charges, and instead passed on them on in misdemeanor form to the L.A. City Attorney. (We've contacted the City Attorney's Office for an update.)
Because Mulligan required medical care, the LAPD launched a routine investigation into his attacking officers' use of force. They remain on duty.
UP NEXT: The victim (or suspect, depending on who you talk to) has a much different recollection of the night's events.
Mulligan's allegations, via TMZ:
We're told Mulligan claims the cops walked up to him and asked why he was in the area, and then proceeded to search both him and his car. Mulligan says the officers found a large amount of cash in the car — thousands of dollars — and then put him in a police car and drove to a nearby motel.
We're told Mulligan says the cops told him to stay in the room until they returned. He claims he waited several hours, but the cops never came back. He says he felt he was being set up to be robbed or killed, so he made a run for it. As he ran out, he says cops were right there and began beating him mercilessly.
Mulligan says he was taken to a hospital, where doctors treated him for 15 fractures to the nasal area, a broken scapula, and severe facial lacerations to a point where he “barely looked human.”
“When you take someone down in the street, sometimes people get hurt,” explains Lieutenant Neiman. He later adds: “You would think that if someone had such serious concerns, that they would have reported it a long time ago.”
Up to this point, the LAPD has received no formal complaint nor lawsuit from Mulligan's camp — mainly just calls from TMZ.
In a press release on Mulligan's hiring in 2009, Deutsche Bank heads wrote that “Brian has more than 25 years experience in the media industry and has held leadership positions in virtually all facets of media and entertainment. He has a proven track record and a unique blend of experience that will complement our existing strengths as we continue to expand our presence in the region.”
He's also on the advisory board for USC's business school, where he got his MBA.
Update: Frank Mateljan, spokesman for the L.A. City Attorney's Office, says of the charges against Mulligan: “I believe that the matter's still under review. There is no final decision at this point.” He says the case is “still being looked at by our criminal branch.”
[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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