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Deputy who alleged backlash for resisting arrest quotas drops suit
LA County Jun 10, 2023
The LASD Compton station. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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A veteran sheriff’s deputy has dropped his lawsuit against Los Angeles County in which he alleged he experienced retaliation by members of a deputy subgroup at the Compton Sheriff’s Station for resisting alleged arrest quotas.
Attorneys for Deputy Javier Gabriel Guzman Jr. filed court papers on Tuesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie M. Bowick asking that his lawsuit be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning it can be refiled. The court papers do not state whether a settlement was reached or if Guzman was not pursuing the case for other reasons.
Guzman attorney Alan Romero declined to comment on the lawsuit initially filed in February 2021.
Guzman, who alleged retaliation and civil rights violations, maintained he was pressured to give citations and make arrests in situations at the Compton Station where protocol showed the deputy should instead use discretion and provide warnings for minor, nonviolent offenses.
In their court papers, defense attorneys denied any liability on the county’s part, stated that Guzman was not entitled to damages and that his claims were barred in whole or in part by the statute of limitations.
Guzman was hired by the department in September 2007 and was one of six to seven Compton station deputies targeted for having low arrest statistics, even though quotas are unlawful and a danger to the public, the suit states.
The suit further alleges that all deputies subjected to unlawful discipline for low arrest statistics also became targets of retaliation by “the Executioners,” an alleged subgroup of deputies that are sometimes referred to as “deputy gangs.” Guzman would be ordered to work at the front counter, which was considered a “severely undesirable position,” the suit stated.
Further, nonmembers of the Executioners were regularly sent on undesirable calls because the group also controlled dispatch operations at the Compton station, the suit stated.
The plaintiff protested the illegal arrest quota and the unlawful punishment and as a result, Guzman was involuntarily transferred from the Compton station and his career advancement prospects have been severely damaged, according to the suit.
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