A jury has awarded $13.1 million in damages to two male Los Angeles police officers who sued the city for gender discrimination, arguing they were singled out in an internal investigation into who drew a Hitler-like mustache on an arrestee.
The incident dates back to January 2017 incident in which officers and their two female police partners responded to a suspected drunk driving collision, according to their suit.
The officers arrested a motorist, who passed out in his jail cell and was taken to a hospital, the suit states.
Two days later, the man filled a complaint with the city police department, alleging that his eyebrows and mustache had been shaved off, and someone had drawn various objects on his body with a sharpie, including a Hitler-style mustache.
When department began an investigation into the incident, internal affairs detectives automatically suspected the male police officers rather than their female partners, also according to the suit.