Trial Begins In Ex-Bank Exec's Lawsuit Against The City, LAPD Officers

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The federal trial began Tuesday of a former Deutsche Bank executive who is suing the city of Los Angeles and two police officers for $20 million.

Brian Mulligan claims the two LAPD officers used excessive force and falsely imprisoned him when he was driven to a motel and beaten in May 2012.

Prosecutors say Mulligan was acting strangely and was hurt when officers responded to a Jack In The Box restaurant in Eagle Rock for an attempted grand theft call.

Mulligan reportedly told officers he was being chased and that he had ingested "white lightning,"  a commercial name for bath salts which possess intoxicating effects similar to methamphetamine and cocaine.

KCAL9's Dave Lopez reports Mulligan took the stand on Tuesday, recalling the allegations of abuse, and claiming the officers stopped him for no reason.

"Officer James Nichols hit me with a baton and shattered my nose. My nose exploded. It was the worst pain of my life," he said.

Mulligan also testified that at one point, another officer told him, "You're going to die tonight from an overdose of heroine." He said he then felt a pinch in his back, and at that point said to himself: "I cannot believe that I'm going to die at the hands of these two guys."

Mulligan was not injected with heroine. The officers' attorneys denied their clients had made the remark.

A report filed about the incident stated that Mulligan asked officers to take him to a nearby motel to rest.

The officers dropped him off at the Highland Park Motel and left, only to respond to a traffic call three hour later and found Mulligan running into traffic.

The report said the officers restrained him after he became combative and lunged at them.

Mulligan's former attorney claims his client was left with 15 fractures to his nose and required 54 stitches to close up the lacerations. Medical tests also reportedly found no trace of bath salts in his client's system.

The case continues.