Photo: ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva could face charges for covering up a violent fight that occurred in jail between an officer and a Hispanic inmate, and subsequently lying by saying for months that he was not aware.
A video of the lawsuit and an internal investigation report released by the ABC network showed that the Sheriff’s Department hid the case due to the possibility that the incident affect the institution due to its nature and its similarity to the case of excessive force that caused the death of George Floyd.
“The sheriff was concerned that it would look bad on the department or specifically look bad on the department, so the case was essentially buried,” said Eli Vera, who competes against Villanueva for c become the next County Sheriff.
Related: Los Angeles Sheriff kneels on Hispanic inmate’s head for 3 minutes and officers tried to cover it up
Vera was head of division in the Department Sheriff and retired in April after 33 years as an officer on the force public.
“After realizing the incident and the circumstances, I became very concerned about what I was reading and what I was learning. So I decided to do the only right thing and that was to hand it over to the inspector general for investigation”, he added.
Vera referred to the incident that occurred on 10 March 2021, when the bailiffs of the Los Angeles County were preparing two inmates for their court appearances at the San Fernando Courthouse.
Surveillance video shows when one of the inmates hits an officer, which led to a fight and the inmate being knocked down in an action involving four officers .
After 16 Seconds into the fight, The officer who received the first punch, Officer Douglas Johnson, pressed his knee against the head and neck of the inmate, who 35 seconds later he was under control and with hands cuffed.
However, when other officers left, Johnson kept his knee pressed against the inmate’s head and neck for almost 3 more minutes.
The internal report said that the inmate , Hispanic Enzo Escalante, suffered minor injuries, but the department did not open an investigation into the officer’s use of force until late November, in addition to not referring the case to the District Attorney to file possible charges.
It was reported that The Los Angeles County Inspector General’s Office, led by Max Huntsman, opened an investigation into the alleged cover-up of the case by Sheriff Villanueva.
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