An Armenian 72-year-old Glendale man testified Wednesday that two police officers used excessive force two years ago when they handcuffed him and broke his arm inside the Glendale Galleria.
Asadoor Mirzaeyan was wearing a sling on his right arm in U.S. District Court, where his trial began against Officers Aaron Zeigler and Francisco Martinez, who he claims used excessive force and covered up accounts of the incident during his May 9, 2010, arrest.
He testified with the help of an Armenian-translation interpreter that he took prescription pills that day and walked to the mall with a friend and met another acquaintance, who shared a half-cup of liquor with him.
On his way out of the mall, Mirzaeyan said the officers, who were dressed in plain clothes and seated at a coffee shop, asked him to leave the mall numerous times but never identified themselves as officers.
But he testified that the officers pushed him against a post and twisted his arms behind his back until he fainted from the pain.
“You are not doing the right thing,” Mirzaeyan said. “That’s all I wanted to say.”
Mirzaeyan woke up in the hospital with a broken arm, he testified.
Assistant City Atty. Miah Yun, who is representing the officers and the Glendale Police Department, played a surveillance video from the coffee shop, showing Mirzaeyan approaching and speaking to the seated officers. The video also shows that a friend tried to pull Mirzaeyan away from the officers several times, but he refused to leave and yanked his friend’s arm away.
The officers then slowly stood up and walked over to Mirzaeyan. The video then ends, before the struggle began.
