In May of this year Pete White sued the City of Los Angeles, Charlie Beck, and a cop named Edward Kinney for civil rights violations committed while arresting him for filming an encampment cleanup in Skid Row last year. Of course, it’s early days as far as federal lawsuits go, so not much is happening right now. However, one ultimately inconsequential but nevertheless interesting document showed up on PACER early this morning. It’s a declaration of Carol Sobel outlining the pulling-teeth level runaround she got from the LAPD while trying to serve a summons on defendant Edward Kinney.¹

In short, she tried to serve him at the Central Police Station. The desk told the process server that he didn’t work there. She called personnel to find out where he worked. They told her that no one by that name was employed by the LAPD. She thought maybe she’d gotten the name wrong so asked for close matches. They gave her someone in Pacific Division. She tried to serve him but they wouldn’t accept service because the summons was lacking the officer’s serial number.

She found out that she had indeed spelled the name wrong, so called personnel again. Again they told her that no one by that name worked for the LAPD. She cited multiple news articles available via Google quoting the guy and they agreed to accept service.² There were a few more twists, which you can read about in the transcript after the break, and the summons still isn’t served.³ Continue reading Carol Sobel Tries To Serve Summons On LAPD Sgt. Edward Kinney In Pete White’s Lawsuit, LAPD Responds: We Never Heard Of Him, He Doesn’t Work Here, His Name Is Spelled Wrong, Your Summons Is Missing His Serial Number, Your Summons Is Missing A Comma, Therefore We Cannot Accept Service. Take That, Carol Sobel!! →