Man Who Called 911 to Report Attack Has No Claim Based on Arrest of Him

Monday, March 16, 2026

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Man Who Called 911 to Report Attack Has No Claim Based on Arrest of Him—Ninth Circuit

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Plaintiff Xavier Nailing appended to his complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California the above photo showubg him bloodied after an altercation that resulted in his arrest. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday affirmed a summary judgment in favor of the City of Los Angeles and two police officers sued by Nailing.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a summary judgment in favor of the City of Los Angeles and two of its officers brought by a man who was arrested for an assault with deadly weapons—a knife and a crowbar—over his protest that it was he who called 911 to summon trhe police and the other party to an altercation was the agrgessor.

In a memoradum opinion filed Thursday, Senior Circuit Judges Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Barry G. Silverman, and N. Randy Smith held that District Court Judge André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California properly found that no Fourth Amendment violation occurred in arresting Xavier Nailing on Oct. 30, 2021.

In his Oct. 4, 2022 complaint, Nailing alleged that he “was stabbed in the face with a knife, then beaten in the head with a crow bar, by Hugo Mazariego Jr.” He set forth that he made four 911 calls, one of them to report “that Mr. Mazariego is attempting to get rid of the knife.”

Nailing said that he was able to take the weapons from his attacker.

Magistrate Judge’s Recommendation

Birotte ordered that judgment be entered for the defendants after approving the June 11, 2024 report and recommendation by Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian, who wrote: “Defendants’ evidence in support of arrest included Mazariego’s detailed statement describing how (according to Mazariego) Plaintiff had attacked him. cutting him in the leg (or hip area) with the knife and later throwing the crowbar at him, and how Mazariego’s actions in self-defense had caused the laceration on Plaintiffs head….Defendants found such statements consistent with the visible injuries on Plaintiff and Mazariego, as well as the statement of an independent witness who saw Plaintiff throw the crowbar at Mazariego….

“Regardless of whether Defendants were correct in that assessment, they had probable cause to arrest Plaintiff because the information they had at that time was “reasonably trustworthy” and would lead “a reasonably prudent person” to believe Plaintiff had committed an assault with deadly weapon.”

She added:

“Plaintiff contends that probable cause was lacking in part because he had called 911 to report an attack by Mazariego….Yet, that fact was not overlooked. Defendants noted in the police report that Plaintiff had called 911 and had told officers he had acted in self-defense against Mazariego.”

Ninth Circuit Opinion

Agreeing, the Ninth Circuit judges said:

“Officers had probable cause to arrest Nailing for assault with a deadly weapon because Hugo Mazariego told the officers that Nailing had stabbed him. showed them the laceration near his hip. and an independent witness corroborated part of Mazariego’s version of events….The mere fact that Nailing called the police does not negate probable cause under the totality of circumstances in this case.”

Nailing, who is Black, alleged that officers believed Mazariego because he is White, asserting “systemic bigotry toward Afro-Americans.” The judges said:

“The district coiut properly granted summary judgment on the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection claim because Nailing failed to offer any evidence to establish that he was arrested because of his race.”

The case is Nailing v. City of Los Angeles, 24-5216.

In hisd action brought in Los Angeles Superior Court against Mazariego, Nailing fared better, obtaining a judgment for $5,246.