Grieving families express their concern at the town hall

Nabil Anas

Global Courant 2023-04-16 08:23:32

Relatives of people killed by sheriff’s deputies criticized the department and demanded change at an emotionally charged town hall meeting Saturday in East Los Angeles.

The meeting, hosted by the Civilian Oversight Commission, was convened to give community members a chance to tell Los Angeles County officials about the fallout from so-called gangs — violent groups of inked deputies — working with the Sheriff’s Department.

“To me, they’re punks,” said Lisa Vargas, whose son Anthony Vargas was killed by deputies in 2018. “Our communities need to step up and take this issue to the streets.”

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“There have been more,” he added, “most recently the Banditos.”

In one particularly violent incident in 2018, a group of suspected Banditos attacked several new deputies at a party. Two of the targets were knocked unconscious and the brawl led to several investigations.

The East LA station is also at the center of an extensive lawsuit filed in 2019 by eight deputies who alleged they were regularly harassed by Banditos members who refused to send backup on dangerous calls and pressured them to stop.

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