Officials with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office tried to cover up an incident in which an officer knelt for three minutes on the head of
a 24-year-old Latino detainee, who was handcuffed
, because they feared it might generate "a negative look" toward him. department, according to internal reports obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The police were concerned, an officer said in an internal report, about the impact it could cause given the similarity between the actions of the Sheriff's officer and what happened in the George Floyd case, which sparked protests against the police and racism. the whole country.
Los Angeles officials decided not to press charges against the detainee, named Enzo Escalante, who had punched the deputy in the face, to avoid drawing attention to the incident, according to a report from Cmdr. Allen Castellano.
The incident became public knowledge on Saturday, but it occurred on the morning
of March 10, 2021
, just two days after jury selection began in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was later convicted of murder. Floyd kneeling on his head.
Three minutes with the knee on the head
Internal reports indicate that the Sheriff's deputy and the detainee crossed paths when several agents were carrying out routine searches at the San Fernando Palace of Justice on a group of inmates before their appearances in court.
Two detainees were talking and an officer asked them to be quiet, but they kept talking and laughing.
Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Johnson then ordered one of them, Enzo Escalante, to stop and face the wall, according to the deputy's report of what happened.
Escalante is a detainee awaiting trial on multiple charges, including murder.
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Video obtained by The Times shows Johnson walking behind Escalante down a hallway and
then pushing him into a wall
.
Escalante turns around and
punches him
in the face multiple times.
The second inmate approaches and is removed from the place by other agents.
Later, Johnson and other police officers put Escalante on the ground face down.
After struggling for about 20 seconds, Johnson puts his knee on the detainee's head.
About 30 seconds later, an officer, one of four hovering over Escalante, handcuffs him.
[Latino deaths at the hands of the police are many more than previously thought: at least 2,600 have died since 2014]
After that, Escalante lies motionless, his hands handcuffed behind his back and appears to be carrying out orders.
Still,
Johnson keeps the knee on Escalante's head for three more minutes
.
Agents then lift Escalante into a wheelchair and strap him down.
Records show Escalante was taken to a hospital to be treated for minor injuries, including bruises to both ears and abrasions to his neck.
“An unreasonable amount of time”
Sheriff's deputies strongly disapproved of Johnson's tactics, with one sergeant determining that Johnson applied pressure to the inmate's head for an "unreasonable amount of time." Another lieutenant called the restraint tactic unnecessary, as the inmate "was no longer offering any resistance".
Castellano, the commander and against whom an administrative investigation was later initiated, was the most critical.
He wrote in his use-of-force review that Johnson's decision to physically confront Escalante in the hallway "
placed other officers and inmates in a dangerous situation
" and that Johnson may have ignored Escalante's provocative language to prevent the situation from escalating. will climb
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He also wrote that Johnson kept pressure on Escalante's head even though the inmate did not resist.
He said two supervisory officers did not intervene.
Johnson wrote in a report that he had been trying to "control inmate Escalante from becoming agitated and hitting me or another officer."
However, Castellano wrote, Johnson held his position for several minutes with no sign of Escalante physically resisting.
A critical moment for the police
The incident also comes at a time of intense scrutiny of the agency over allegations of controversial shootings, gang-like groups of officers controlling stations, and Sheriff Alex Villanueva's reluctance to monitor and act on these allegations.
A Sheriff's Department spokesman said Villanueva learned of the incident in October and immediately ordered a criminal investigation into the officer, who was relieved of his duty.
But Eli Vera, a commander who oversees the judicial services where the incident occurred, said Villanueva saw the video on an aide's desk within days of the incident.
Vera is running against Villanueva for sheriff and withdrawing next week.
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Just two months before the incident, moreover, the California attorney general had announced an investigation into whether officers have routinely violated people's constitutional rights.
"My son has been taken from me."
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“Under normal circumstances, I would have expected the Sheriff's Department to prosecute this case,” Inspector General Max Huntsman, who oversees the agency, told The Times, referring to the decision not to press charges against the inmate.
“The fact that they did not raise a red flag on the possibility… that
the motivation was to prevent bad press as alleged
,” the inspector said.
He added that the incident must be investigated by an outside agency.
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Commander Castellano noted that there was a request to complete Johnson's use of force review in three days, much shorter than usual, from a level above his division chief.
Villanueva, the deputy sheriff, and three sheriff's deputies are the only officials above the division chief.
Castellano also wrote that Custody Investigative Services, which investigates crimes in places of detention, was involved in the decision not to charge Escalante for hitting Johnson.
