As ripples from the arrests last month of six King City police officers continue to be felt, a federal class-action lawsuit has been filed alleging the city”s police and officials conspired to violate the civil rights of residents.

The suit names as defendants the city of King City; former acting police Chief Bruce Miller; Sgt. Bobby Carrillo; officers Mario Alonso Mottu, Sr. and Jaime Andrade; former Chief Nick Baldiviez; and Brian Miller, owner of Miller”s Towing and the former acting chief”s brother.

All of the defendants, with the exception of the city, are already facing criminal charges in Monterey County Superior Court after their arrests were announced late last month.

Attorneys Fernando F. Chavez and Blanca E. Zarazúa filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court.

In a 16-page complaint, the lawsuit alleges that class-action suit member Jesus Garcia was unfairly targeted when his car was towed and impounded for 30 days after an alleged minor traffic infraction in January 2012.

The complaint does not name the officer who allegedly stopped Garcia.

Within minutes, the complaint says, “a tow truck arrived upon the scene of the said traffic stop and, without explanation to the plaintiff but at the direction of the said King City police officer, towed plaintiff”s vehicle to a location unknown to the plaintiff. No explanation or reason was given by the said police officer for the seizure, towing, and impoundment of plaintiff”s vehicle, nor were instructions given for the plaintiff”s retrieval of said vehicle.”

Garcia was unable to recover the car, the complaint alleges, and after 30 days it was sold.

The potential class of plaintiffs is estimated to include at least 200 people whose cars were impounded by King City police during the past three years.

After their cars were impounded and sold, the complaint says, “police officers and defendant Brian A. Miller paid a portion of the impoundment fees and sales proceeds to defendant City of King City as ostensibly payment for fines and fees, and unlawfully retained and kept the balance of the sales proceeds for their personal use.”

Poor Latinos were targeted, the complaint says, because they “would be less likely to complain about unlawful seizure and sale than other persons and, thus, the scheme would be less likely to be exposed.”

It was unclear Monday why Mottu Sr., Baldiviez and Andrade were included in the suit. The complaint says they, along with the other officers named, “concocted and developed a scheme to target a particular demographic population, that is, economically disadvantaged and low-income persons of Hispanic descent, although other non-Hispanic drivers also were caught up in the scheme.”

According to criminal complaints filed in late February by the Monterey County District Attorney”s Office, the only ones charged in an alleged car-towing and kickback conspiracy targeting Latinos were the Miller brothers and Carrillo.

Mottu Sr. and Baldiviez were charged with embezzlement after Baldiviez allegedly gave Mottu title to a patrol car that was refurbished as a low rider and exhibited at car shows.

Andrade has been charged with possessing an illegal assault rifle. Another officer arrested in the sweep was Mark Baker, who faces criminal threat charges and was not named in the lawsuit.

The class action was filed after community members were interviewed and “troubling facts were disclosed,” Zarazúa said in a press release.

King City is accused of “deliberate indifference” and was named as a defendant because the city did not have “an adequate policy to prevent the pattern and scheme of wrongful conduct committed by its sworn police officers and others associated with them,” the complaint says. The city allegedly failed to uncover “the longstanding, multi-year pattern and practice of wrongful conduct committed by its sworn police officers.”

The city profited from discrimination against low-income residents by collection of fines and fees from “bogus traffic stops,” the complaint reads.

“This lawsuit provides at least some relief for the many residents of King City who were subject to serious civil rights violations,” Zaraz a said.

Chavez, who is a grandson of the late labor leader Cesar Chavez, said, “It is quite amazing that in 2014, Latinos continue to suffer the types of injustices which occurred decades ago and which the Civil Rights Act of 1983 sought to correct.”

The attorneys are waiting to see if the court will certify the case as a class action.

They are seeking compensation for class members, “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains,” and possible injunctions to prevent the alleged schemes in the future.

The first court date is July 8 in the federal courthouse in San Jose before Magistrate Judge Paul Singh Grewal.

More details are expected to be announced Thursday at a news conference in King City.

Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com.