LASD deputies with gang claims can move forward vs. ex-colleagues

Eight sheriff’s deputies who say they were pressured to quit or leave the East Los Angeles station by a clique of mostly Latino deputies known as the Banditos can move forward with part of their case against their former colleagues, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yolanda Orozco said the claims of plaintiffs Art Hernandez, Alfred Gonzalez, Benjamin Zaredini, David Casas, Louis Granados, Mario Contreras and Oscar Escobedo against defendants Rafael “Rene” Munoz, Gregory Rodriguez, David Silverio and Michael Hernandez should be heard by a jury.

“The individual defendants failed to present evidence to rebut plaintiffs’ evidence that individual defendants were not `shot callers’ for the Banditos or that they did not exercise influence or power at the East Los Angeles station,” the judge wrote. “Therefore, triable issues of fact exist as to what influence and control each individual defendant had in dictating or directing the actions of other deputies at the East Los Angeles station and whether they directed other deputies to harass plaintiffs by not giving them adequate backup, assigning them excessive calls … and other conduct such as pressuring plaintiffs to not take overtime.”

The plaintiffs’ also sued Los Angeles County. Defense attorneys also are seeking dismissal of all or part of the claims against the county in a hearing scheduled May 3.

The plaintiff deputies seek unspecified damages on allegations that include racial discrimination, harassment, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations.

Their suit was originally filed in September 2019 and deals in part with the events that allegedly occurred during a September 2018 training session at Kennedy Hall, an East Los Angeles event venue where the plaintiffs maintain the alleged Banditos “sucker-punched” Art Hernandez and “knocked him out cold,” then kicked him while he was unconscious and unable to defend himself.

The suit alleges the assailants also grabbed Escobedo from behind twice and choked him unconscious in a manner that could have killed him.

The plaintiffs were threatened and bullied in attempts to get them to conform to a “corrupt culture,” were denied needed backup on dangerous calls and were “shaken down” and ordered to pay taxes to the gang, according to the suit. The plaintiffs also allege they were given excessive calls, sent hostile messages, forced to perform unpaid overtime and denied promotions and transfers.

But in their court papers, county attorneys argue the county is not responsible for anything that allegedly happened to the plaintiffs at Kennedy Hall.

“The county cannot be held liable for the fight since none of the people involved were acting within the scope of their employment with the department, not the plaintiffs or the Individual defendants,” the county attorneys state in their court papers. “The party was voluntary — LASD did not require anyone to go. It was planned and funded by the deputies. None of the attendees were on-duty. And it took place at a site not owned or operated by the County.”

The county put the individual defendants on administrative leave, investigated the incident and then fired the individual defendants for their involvement, according to the county attorneys’ court papers.

The plaintiffs allege the Banditos are an all-Latino gang that targets young Latinos for harassment, but the county lawyers state in their court papers that the plaintiffs cannot show they heard a single comment or insult about their ethnicity.

The Banditos members actually admitted members of all races and treated all non-Banditos the same, regardless of race, and the plaintiffs were harassed only after they spoke out against the Banditos and not because the plaintiffs themselves are Latinos, the county lawyers state in their court papers.

More from LA County