When two Los Angeles police officers refused to leave his apartment during a welfare check, Slade Douglas felt he had no choice but to call 911.
The August 27, 2019, encounter began after someone from the Department of Veterans Affairs incorrectly reported to authorities that Douglas may be suicidal, according to a lawsuit he later filed against the city and the two officers who responded to his door.
Douglas told police there had been a misunderstanding and that he wasn’t a danger to himself or others. But instead of leaving, the officers insisted on taking him into custody for his own safety under California’s Welfare and Institutions Code, known as a 5150 hold…