Deja Bush left an Anaheim auto mall tucked behind the 57 Freeway as the proud new owner of a Hyundai Elantra.
She signed a sales contract with Russell Westbrook Hyundai of Anaheim on March 16, 2023 and drove off the lot with her first-ever car purchase.
“Buying the car, in itself, was a huge accomplishment for me,” said Bush, who was 18 at the time. “It really solidified my independence, being an adult and just trying to do big girl things.”
But that rite of passage into adulthood turned into a nightmare, according to a federal lawsuit filed by attorneys on her behalf.
In the weeks that followed, Bush alleged that Anaheim police acted as the dealership’s personal repossession agents after receiving a call about a stolen car. Acting on information from the state’s Stolen Vehicle System, Pomona police arrested Bush on the first day of her new job.
The civil rights suit, which attorneys filed last year, claimed police fabricated evidence in the case and that Bush’s arrest violated her constitutional rights.
After the suit appeared on the Anaheim City Council’s July 14 closed session agenda, the city agreed to pay Bush $250,000 to settle the case out of court, according to her attorney Daniel “Sparky” Abraham.
“Police are not supposed to pursue people on the basis of what is a civil dispute,” said Abraham, who worked alongside attorney Jacob Loup on the case. “I have no idea why the police would have chased this down like they did.”
When asked about the case on Tuesday, a city spokesperson claimed a settlement wasn’t finalized — a contention Abraham disputed — and did not verify the sum to TimesOC.
“Out of respect for all involved, we don’t have anything else to add,” said spokesperson Esther Kwon Baek.
In settling the case, Anaheim admits to no wrongdoing. In court documents, an attorney for the city argued the police acted in the full scope of their duties and any damages suffered by Bush “was caused solely by reason of her own wrongful acts.”
Bush’s suit contended that the dealership dispute was contractual — not criminal.
It argued that a provision allowed the dealership to legally terminate the contract if a lender couldn’t be found, but had to give Bush a 10-day notice from the purchase date.
According to court documents, the notice allegedly did not come until 20 days after Bush drove the car off the lot. After studying the contract with her family, she refused to return the car to the dealership, believing the request to be outside of its terms.
Initially, the dealership tried to repossess the car without involving the cops, but contacted Anaheim Police Det. Leslie Vargas to report a stolen vehicle that Bush “lawfully purchased,” according to the suit.
Anaheim police officer Juan Farias arrived at the dealership on April 20, 2023 and took a police report.
He expressed initial skepticism about arresting Bush for what seemed like a contractual dispute, the suit alleged. Bush’s attorney, Abraham, said he based the claim on body camera footage.
Bush attorneys argued that Anaheim PD acted as a “repossession agent” for the Hyundia dealership.
(Eric Licas)
Court documents continued to detail Bush’s version of events.
Farias entered the car into the Stolen Vehicle System at Vargas’ instruction after the dealership said Bush misrepresented her income.
The listing came with a notation that claimed the car “was associated with another violent crime involving a firearm in the city of Anaheim” and that “[t]he suspect from the violent crime was a female named Deja Bush.”
Bush dismissed the allegations — ones she only learned of months later — as patently false in the suit.
“It never happened,” she said. “To hear allegations like that against you, it’s shocking and sad.”
Pomona police officers seized the car the same day the alert was issued by Farias and arrested Bush at her job in front of coworkers, including her supervisor.
In suing for damages, Bush claimed she lost her job because she was left without a vehicle to make the long commute and to use as part of her work responsibilities. She also faced the prospect of losing her freedom with a felony count of receiving stolen property and a felony count of unlawfully taking a vehicle filed against her.
If convicted, Bush faced three years in prison.
“In the beginning, I was very optimistic about the criminal case being dropped,” she said. “But as so many months passed, I started to become very concerned that there was a possibility I might actually have to go to prison.”
Prosecutors dropped the charges on Jan. 21, 2025.
The suit alleges that the dealership had a personal connection to Vargas. It also added that the police department has an unofficial policy for intervening on behalf of car dealerships in private civil disputes.
Russell Westbrook Hyundai of Anaheim has reported more than a dozen cars stolen under similar circumstances since 2021, according to the complaint. More broadly, Anaheim PD has responded to stolen vehicle calls from dealerships 135 times in that same period — a volume 300% higher than the Santa Ana Police Department.
An Anaheim PD spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Bush is also suing the Anaheim dealership in Los Angeles Superior Court for allegedly filing a false police report.
“I’m hopeful that this settlement will give Deja some peace of mind,” Abraham said. “But I don’t think that justice has been done. No matter what happens in these cases, I don’t know if she’s ever going to be comfortable going and buying a car from a car dealership again.”
