Global Courant 2023-04-26 09:16:45
Los Angeles County Sheriff officials said deputies responded to a call from someone screaming and being beaten, but a San Gabriel mother claims deputies entered her home without permission or a warrant and then detained her teenage children when the children argued with them made.
Ceidy Cordova posted video on TikTok of parts of the tense exchange that took place on October 22, 2022, between deputies and her 14- and 19-year-old children. Recorded on cameras the family had placed in their living room and on the front door, the videos show deputies handcuffing the two siblings as the teens protest their presence in the apartment and object to detention. The videos have been viewed millions of times.
“Everything they did was totally wrong,” Cordova said in an interview with The Times. “They took my son to jail for no reason, and they took my husband to jail for no reason.”
On Friday, the family filed a claim with Los Angeles County, foreshadowing a lawsuit, saying deputies used excessive force and violated the family’s civil rights when they entered the apartment and detained the children. Their attorney also claims that sheriff’s officers lied about walking through a door that was left ajar; she said they opened an unlocked door, and the tense exchange ensued.
“It’s an outrageous case,” said Narine Mkrtchyan, a lawyer employed by Cordova.
The videos posted online show Ciedy Cordova’s daughter, Alaiza Cordova, arguing with three deputies in the family’s living room.
Cordova said her daughter just got home from the gym and called her to tell her deputies were at the door. Cordova said she told her not to answer and that she and her husband were on their way home.
Then her daughter called her back and said that deputies were already in the family’s living room.
“I was confused,” said Cordova. “I didn’t know what was happening.”
Cordova watched the confrontation between deputies and her daughter through the living room camera on her phone as it happened, and attempted to speak through the camera’s speaker to get the deputies’ attention.
Deputies hold her daughter’s hands behind her back as they escort her out of the apartment.
“I had an anxiety attack,” Cordova said.
After the girl is taken out of the apartment, we see two deputies enter the apartment’s rooms.
“I didn’t do anything,” her daughter can be heard telling deputies in a second video while she is being held.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said deputies were called to the 5100 block of Rosemead Boulevard in south San Gabriel on Oct. 22 after a caller reported someone arguing, yelling and what sounded like someone being hit.
Deputies found a door ajar and announced their presence, but according to a statement, “residents were uncooperative and refused to obey.”
“After several attempts to get residents of the residence to leave the site to see if anyone was injured, sheriff’s deputies entered and force was used against a youth,” the statement read, referring to the meeting of the police. deputies with the 14-year-old.
“The claim that the door is ajar is patently false,” Mkrtchyan said. “We have video showing them knocking on the door.”
Video provided to The Times shows deputies outside the apartment just before walking in, speaking to neighbors asking if anyone was hurt or needed help.
A sheriff’s deputy then walks to the Cordova’s apartment and knocks on the door several times. The door is just outside the camera frame and is not visible in the video.
“Sheriff’s Department, is anyone inside?” calls a deputy sheriff before walking in. “Make yourself known.”
Cordova claims the door was closed but not locked.
“They lie,” she said. “My daughter just forgot to lock it.”
Mkrtchyan claims the door was locked and deputies had no right to enter the house.
Mkrtchyan said that despite allegations from the department, Alaiza Cordova and her brother did not oppose deputies, but asked why they were there.
Another video posted by Ceidy Cordova shows her 14-year-old son arguing with three deputies outside the home. A deputy sheriff then approaches and snatches a phone from his hand. Deputies then push him against the wall and stop him.
Cordova said she panicked when she saw the incident happening on her phone.
“At that point you don’t see that there’s anyone in authority,” she said. “We just see people grabbing (our) kids.”
In a statement, sheriff officials say the videos posted to social media do not reflect the entire sequence of events.
Deputies also arrested Ceidy Cordova’s husband, who, according to the statement, drove past deputies and through a stop sign with a cell phone in hand.
“He was uncooperative, refused to provide his diving license and resisted a lawful order,” the sheriff’s statement said.
Another video provided by the family shows Cordova and her husband driving to their home, passing a stop sign, and stopping in front of a group of patrol cars and deputies.
“Do me a favor, I need your driver’s license,” a deputy tells her husband, right after he rolls down the window.
“No sir,” answers Cordova’s husband. “I’m completely still.”
“You’re really going to get out of the vehicle now,” the deputy says before pulling Cordova out of the car and handcuffing him.
According to the department, both the stepfather and the boy who were victims of the use of force told deputies that they were not injured in the incident.
But Mkrtchyan said the deputies’ actions were unnecessary, claiming that Cordova’s children and husband were withheld in retaliation for questioning the deputies’ actions.
“This is retaliation,” she said. “They realized they entered the wrong apartment, but now they are arresting these people afterwards to justify their entry.”
