Actor Says He Was Profiled In False Arrest In Front Of News Crews

LOS ANGELES, CA — A black actor who was arrested at gunpoint and taken into custody at the crowded Glendale Galleria last week says he was racially profiled by police looking for a pair of knock-knock burglars after a high-speed chase and manhunt.

Darris Love, 38, who acted in "ER," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and the 1990s Nickelodeon series "The Secret World of Alex Mack," said police handcuffed him in front of news cameras that had followed the wild police chase. Love claims he asked the officers to review mall security cameras to prove he had been shopping with his girlfriend. Instead, police cuffed him, put him in the back of a patrol car and detained him for five hours of questioning, he contends. The ordeal ended with his release a few hours later.

Love and his attorneys announced the filing of a legal claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, alleging that deputies identified him as a suspect in the burglary even though he and his girlfriend had been shopping at the mall during the crime and the ensuing chase last Wednesday.

The sheriff's department issued a statement acknowledging that detectives with its Major Crimes Bureau witnessed a residential burglary and notified the Los Angeles Police Department.

"Mr. Love closely resembled the individual who left the scene of the burglary," according to the sheriff's department. "While Glendale police officers were searching the mall area for the burglary suspects, Mr. Love was seen running away not far from the area where the pursuit terminated towards an illegally parked vehicle.
"Mr. Love was detained by Glendale police for further investigation by LAPD. During the detention, LAPD officers conferred with Major Crimes detectives who initially identified Mr. Love as one of the burglary suspects seen leaving the residence.

"Mr. Love was detained and transported to LAPD West Valley Division for further investigation. This further investigation ultimately determined that Mr. Love was not in any way involved in the residential burglary and he was immediately released. "

Love claims he was with his girlfriend at the time and was walking through a parking garage to get his parking ticket validated about 12:50 p.m. when he was taken into custody at gunpoint and then detained for about five hours before police realized they had the wrong man.

Love and his attorney, Brian Dunn, said a sheriff's deputy positively identified him as a suspect in the burglary that deputies witnessed earlier in the day.

"There is absolutely no way they could not have realized that my clients, specifically Mr. Love and (his girlfriend) Ayesha Dumas, could have had anything to do with this," Dunn said.

"They were at an outdoor shopping mall throughout the time in which this crime occurred, throughout the time in which this chase occurred and throughout the time in which the actual suspects fled from law enforcement, exited their vehicle and got away.

"... Why did this occur? There can be no other explanation other than race. There was absolutely nothing about my clients' demeanor, about their actions or about their manner in dealing with law enforcement that in any way would have suggested criminal culpability to a reasonable police officer," he said.

Love said once he was at the West Valley station a police lieutenant realized that he was not a suspect, and he was released. He said he did his best throughout his interaction with law enforcement to remain positive and cooperative, and he credits that attitude with ensuring he came out of the incident unscathed.

"You have to give your innocence to police officers for them to do their job, and in this day and time the reason that we fear our lives is because it usually doesn't go quite so well and most people don't live to tell their story," he said.

Love said he was coming forward because he wanted to ensure the same thing doesn't happen to anyone else.

"This is not a hate-all-police matter," Love said. He publicly thanked the LAPD for realizing he was not culpable in the robbery, despite being identified by a sheriff's deputy.

Dumas, meanwhile, said she allowed police to search her car when they confronted her at the mall.

"They tore it apart and didn't put it back together," she said.

Love said he was running through the mall parking garage at about 12:50 p.m. last Wednesday to get his parking ticket validated, but when he saw police swarming the area, he slowed down because -- as a black man -- he didn't want to be mistaken as a criminal suspect trying to flee. But when he slowed, he was immediately taken into custody.

His arrest, which was captured on camera and aired on at least one television station, climaxed a police pursuit of a vehicle containing two or three "knock-knock" burglary suspects. The chase stretched from the Van Nuys area to Glendale, where the driver maneuvered into a parking garage at the Glendale Galleria and the car was abandoned.

The police chase began at Hayvenhurst Anenue and Vanowen Street and seemed over when pursuing officers opted to back off for safety reasons, according to LAPD Officer Carlos Zaragoza. However a Channel 11 news helicopter picked it up and found the suspect's vehicle abandoned at the Glendale Galleria parking lot. The suspects were under surveillance and had been seen allegedly burglarizing a home in the 19000 block of Lemmer Drive in Tarzana, LAPD Detective Bill Dunn told ABC7. Police described the suspects as knock-knock burglars, who knock or ring to check if anyone is home before committing burglaries.

The dark BMW was driven east on the Ventura (101) Freeway and then continued onto the eastbound Ventura (134) Freeway into Glendale, where the driver exited and went south on Central Avenue. At some point, officers backed off of the ground chase, but monitored the car via helicopter.

At about 12:20 p.m., the car entered the Galleria parking garage, and police set up a perimeter in the general area to look for the suspects.

About 30 minutes later, police were seen taking a man into custody. Love says that man was him.

No other suspects were apprehended, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

After he was handcuffed, Love said he asked officers to check security camera video that would prove he had been at the mall when the Tarzana burglary and subsequent chase occurred, but he was instead taken to the LAPD's West Valley Station for booking.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report; Actor Darris Love at the Los Angeles World Premiere of Marvel Studios' BLACK PANTHER at Dolby Theatre on January 29, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)