The first sign of trouble was the police helicopter thumping above Carlos Pena’s print shop in North Hollywood last August, an officer barking orders over a loudspeaker.
Alarmed by the commotion, Pena peeked out the door — and was yanked from the business by a fugitive who barricaded himself inside the NoHo Printing & Graphics shop on Lankershim Boulevard.
Pena, 56, was ordered by deputy U.S. marshals to stand aside. He watched from a neighboring restaurant during the 13-hour standoff as an LAPD SWAT team fired more than 30 tear gas canisters inside the store, smashing through walls, and permeating Pena’s expensive equipment and inventory with toxic chemicals.
The fugitive ended up escaping, leaving damage to the print shop estimated at $60,000 — money that the city of Los Angeles has refused to pay, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, July 19, by Pena and the Institute for Justice, a libertarian, nonprofit public interest law firm based in Arlington County, Virginia. No further information was available on the escapee.
In one afternoon, the business that took Pena 30 years to build was virtually destroyed. His motorized paper cutters, gone. His high-volume color printers, gone. His rented storefront, gone.
“It’s sad to see everything going to waste for something that wasn’t my fault,” Pena said in an interview. “This is all I’ve done all my life, since I was in high school. … I had just a small business, but I built it with hard work and honesty.”
Pena built the successful operation after immigrating with his family from El Salvador about 40 years ago. He now works out of the sweltering garage of his home in Arleta, using a second-hand, manual printer that he bought at a deep discount, but figures he has lost more than 80% of his clientele.
No longer can he make large banners, do shrink wrapping or produce anything requiring lamination.
“I’ve been surviving because people have shown me a lot of kindness,” Pena said. His 68-year-old wife, once retired, has gone back to cleaning houses.
“Without the money, I’m thinking of just (staying) here until I can’t do it no more.”
He had hoped to pass the family business to his son.
Pena said his insurance carrier wouldn’t cover the damage because it was caused by a government agency, which is a common practice. The federal government said the liability belonged to the city. And the city turned down Pena’s request for compensation, according to the lawsuit.
That’s the rub. Pena doesn’t begrudge law enforcement for pursuing a dangerous fugitive and destroying his business. But, he says he shouldn’t have to bear the cost.
Attorneys Jeffrey Redfern and Suranjan Sen, from the Institute for Justice, said government is bound under the U.S. Constitution to compensate owners whose property has been taken for public use.
“The cost of apprehending … fugitives should be borne by the public, and not by an unlucky and entirely innocent property owner,” said the lawsuit.
The LAPD declined to comment on the suit.