Global Courant 2023-04-13 21:09:52
Two former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies have been charged in federal court in connection with a 2020 incident in which they allegedly forced a skateboarder into the back of their cruiser and threatened him before crashing the vehicle, according to two people with direct knowledge of the incident. the case .
An indictment against Miguel Vega and Chris Hernandez — who were also implicated in the controversial 2020 murder of 18-year-old Andres Guardado — is expected to be unsealed on Thursday, the sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sealed indictments.
A lawyer for Vega declined to comment until seeing the indictment. A lawyer representing Hernandez was not immediately available. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment.
The news of the charges comes exactly three years after the two deputies allegedly grabbed 24-year-old Jesus Alegria off the street and took him for a wild ride that left him bleeding from the head. Both Vega and Hernandez were eventually stripped of their badges.
But the sheriff’s department waited at least two months to respond to Alegria’s allegations, leaving Vega on the streets in June 2020 when he shot Guardado five times in the back after a brief foot chase in Gardena. The two deputies remained on active duty until December 2020.
Guardado’s murder sparked widespread protests and a lawsuit brought against the county by his family, which was settled for $8 million. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has not yet said publicly whether it will file charges in the Guardado case, though documents reviewed by The Times show a prosecutor initially advised against it last year. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office has said prosecutors will announce findings this month.
However, the case that grew out of Alegria’s allegations against Vega and Hernandez was never sent to the district attorney’s office and instead was forwarded directly to federal prosecutors after an initial criminal investigation, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the situation. The district attorney’s office did not respond to a question as to why the case went directly to federal investigators.
On April 13, 2020, Alegria was skateboarding at a park in Compton when Vega and Hernandez quit. According to Alegria, the deputies approached a group of teenagers, and Alegria and his friends yelled at them to stop harassing the children.
The deputies turned and exchanged words with the skateboarders before one of them – Vega – grabbed Alegria and shoved him into the back of a patrol car. Alegria later told The Times that the deputy sheriff had not handcuffed him or asked his name.
Instead, he said, the deputies taunted him.
“We’re going to trap you for it now,” said one of them, threatening to kick him out of the car in a gang-controlled neighborhood and tell people on the street that he belonged to a rival gang.
The deputies continued to taunt and berate him, Alegria said. A few minutes later, they saw a group of young teens on bicycles and sent them over. Hernandez jumped out and chased several of them on foot, while Vega sped down an alley after one of them.
According to Alegria, as the motorcyclist drove past a parked car and a concrete wall, Vega accelerated and hit both the wall and a parked BMW.
By Alegria’s estimate, they had been going 55-60 mph at the time of the crash, although Vega later told authorities he had been going 30-35 mph. According to an incident report, the speed limit was 15 mph. After the wreck, the patrol vehicle was so damaged that instead of opening the door, Vega had to climb out of a window. He surveyed the scene and told Alegria to leave.
“Get out of here,” he said, according to Alegria. As he walked away, Alegria realized that blood was dripping down his face from a cut on his eyebrow.
When California Highway Patrol officers arrived at the scene — an alley near Mona Boulevard and 130th Street in Willowbrook — Vega told them he had been chasing a bicyclist he suspected was carrying a gun.
Authorities blocked the street, but when a deputy spotted Alegria walking in the area again, he grabbed the man and handcuffed him without explaining why. Deputies left him in a patrol car for more than half an hour and then took him to a hospital where, according to Alegria, they pressured him to sign a summons to appear in court for being under the influence of meth.
“I didn’t want to sign it because I know my truth: I’ve never touched that drug in my life,” he told the Times. But when Alegria called his father for advice, his father persuaded him to sign the document so that he could go home and avoid further harassment in prison.
In the arrest report detailing the incident, Vega wrote that Alegria was acting erratically and appeared to be taking drugs when deputies first saw him. A “large mob” was closing in on them, he said, and they didn’t feel they could safely take a sobriety test, so they fled before one of the deputies had time to handcuff Alegria or fasten his seatbelt .
A video recorded by one of Alegria’s friends questioned that account, and Vega made no mention of chasing an armed cyclist in his report.
Although the sheriff’s department sent the case against Alegria to the district attorney’s office, prosecutors declined to press charges. In early 2021, Alegria filed a lawsuit accusing Vega and Hernandez of fabricating the drug charge and arrest report to justify their reckless behavior. Last year, the province agreed to a settlement for $450,000.
At the time, Vega and Hernandez had already come under fire for their role in the June 2020 murder of Guardado.
Two months after the incident in Alegria, deputies were on patrol when they came across Guardado talking to someone outside a bodyshop. The sheriff’s department said Guardado brandished a gun and ran into an alley, and Vega and Hernandez gave chase. An autopsy later showed that Vega had shot the teen five times in the back. Vega’s lawyer said it was because Guardado reached for a gun.
Guardado’s death followed the murder of George Floyd and sparked weeks of protests and increased scrutiny of the Compton sheriff’s office, which was rocked by allegations about a violent gang of gang known as the Executioners. After the Guardado shooting, a whistleblower claimed that Vega and Hernandez were future members of the group. Their lawyers denied the allegation.
Before the Guardado and Alegria cases, Vega had a history of allegations of wrongdoing, including allegations that he was rude and that he used unreasonable force – though the latter of which turned out to be baseless. The harshest sentence he faced was in 2017, after he was charged with making false statements in an investigation. He was eventually suspended for four days for the lesser offense of failing to properly screen an inmate.
Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report.
Sources: Ex-deputies involved with Guardado
Next Big Thing in Public Knowledg
