Exclusive: Marine Sues San Diego County, Claims Deputies Falsely Arrested and Beat Him

The incident happened in April 2015, as Gunnery Sgt. Lucas Moore was walking to his car with a woman on E Street in Encinitas.

U.S. Marine and Gunnery Sergeant Lucas Moore is suing the County of San Diego, and specifically Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Sanders, named in Moore’s civil complaint.

In April 2015, Moore was walking to his car with a woman on E Street in Encinitas. He said a marked sheriff’s vehicle pulled next to them and Deputy Sanders asked if there was a problem. Moore said no.

“He pulled up a bit more and said ‘I’m not done talking to you yet.’ I said, 'Ok we’re not doing anything wrong please excuse us,' and he said ‘Do you want me to get out of the car?’ And I said, 'You can do as you like, sir' and I guess that’s when I offended him,” remembered Moore .

Moore said the deputy tried to arrest him and then called for more units.

“I started walking toward them, waved saying, 'Hey' and trying to say it was a big misunderstanding. Before I could get arms-length reach of them, they grabbed me and then a bad beating happened,” he said. “While I was on the ground one of the [deputies] put his foot on my head and grinded it in the pavement and at this point I was bleeding pretty bad.”

Moore said he heard the deputies laughing saying, “Oh got another [expletive] Marine off the street.”

“That hurt my feelings. I just got back from abroad. I was gone for eight months and to be out there protecting the civil liberties that I hold true. That you hold true. That everyone holds true and to get back here and get those civil liberties robbed from you from the very same people sworn in to protect them is just so disappointing. It broke my heart,” he said.

Both the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the County of San Diego told NBC 7 they could not comment due to pending litigation. However, according to court documents, Deputy Sanders believed Moore and his friend may have been fighting and Moore appeared intoxicated and aggressive.

Moore disputes all those claims saying he blew "a zero" into the deputy’s breathalyzer. Court documents reflect there is a dispute between the two parties about this part of the incident. The woman told Sanders there was no altercation, according to the documents.

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