Woman sues ex-boyfriend for alleged Palm Springs attack and false imprisonment

A Los Angeles man accused of attacking and holding his girlfriend against her will in Palm Springs in 2019 was sued by the woman.

The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought Thursday against William Lakoff. The allegations include sexual battery, gender violence, false imprisonment, civil rights violations and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Doe seeks unspecified damages. A representative for Lakoff could not be immediately reached.

The former couple met through a dating website last May and began an intimate relationship, the suit states. Lakoff also had a residence in Palm Springs and Doe went there on June 29 after he offered to cook dinner, the suit states.

As Doe was sitting next to Lakoff, then 55, in his living room, he bit her on her right shoulder, causing a welt, the suit alleges. He then placed one hand on the front off her throat, restricting her breathing, according to the suit.

A short time later he dragged Doe into the kitchen by her hair and forced her to lie on the floor, the suit states. He then stepped on her left hand with one foot and placed another foot on her throat, once again restricting her breathing, the suit alleges.

While Doe was on the floor, Lakoff began striking her on the buttocks with a wooden spoon and a spatula, causing her to suffer welts and bruising, the suit states. He then turned her over and struck her thighs with the spatula, the suit states.

Lakoff forced Doe to stay lying on the floor while he cooked dinner, the suit states.

After Lakoff finished cooking, he dragged Doe from the floor to the kitchen table by her hair, lowered her blouse and exposed her breasts before squeezing them hard and causing bruising, the suit states. He then demanded that she look down at her food while he ate, the suit states.

``Fearing for her life, plaintiff complied with defendant's requests,'' the suit states.

After dinner, Lakoff grabbed Doe's arm and told her to go to a bedroom, there he told her to give him a back massage, the suit states. He also slapped her in the face and bit her in the left cheek, the suit alleges.

Doe escaped after Lakoff fell asleep, the suit states. She later went to the Palm Springs Police Department and told officers what Lakoff allegedly did to her.

As officers knocked on Lakoff's door, he lifted the window blinds, but refused to answer, the suit states. More officers came and set up a perimeter, the suit states.

Lakoff allegedly was warned 14 times over a public address system to come outside. He was taken into custody about 4:15 a.m. June 30 by a SWAT team and arrested on suspicion of domestic battery with injury, kidnapping, sexual battery, false imprisonment and delaying an officer, the suit states.

Doe has suffered severe emotional distress because of her ordeal, the suit states.