Multiple Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who maintain they were pressured to quit or leave the East Los Angeles station by an internal clique known as the Banditos do not have to more fully produce their personnel records for trial, a judge ruled Thursday while calling the defense motion “confusing.”
The Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed by plaintiffs Art Hernandez, Alfred Gonzalez, Benjamin Zaredini, David Casas, Louis Granados, Mario Contreras, Areila Leums and Oscar Escobedo is scheduled for trial July 15. All are still with the department except for Hernandez, who resigned last Sept. 20 after disciplinary action was taken against him related to, among other things, two drunk-driving arrests in four years, according to the county attorneys’ court papers.
On Thursday, Judge Kerry Bensinger called the county’s motion “confusing” and said the time to have brought the motion is long past the deadline to do so.
“Moreover, maintaining the discovery cutoff in this case is particularly apt because this case is well down the … road,” the judge wrote. “New discovery motions … would/may topple the carefully assembled proverbial apple cart.”
Along with the county, the individual defendants are Rafael “Rene” Munoz, Gregory Rodriguez, David Silverio and Michael Hernandez.
In their motion, county attorneys noted that the plaintiffs still in the department have put their futures with the LASD at issue and seek millions in damages for advancements they maintain they will be denied in the future.
In doing so, the plaintiffs have “selectively produced, filed and used as exhibits various portions of their personnel records” in support of the county’s motion to dismiss their lawsuit and the county cannot defend itself without access to such information as their disciplinary history, Internal Affairs Bureau information and promotional opportunity testing, according to the county attorneys’ pleadings.
“Plaintiffs’ promotional and disciplinary records are not just relevant, they are necessary to evaluate plaintiffs’ claims, assess their credibility and determine any damages,” according to the county attorneys’ court papers.
The plaintiffs’ suit was originally filed in September 2019 and deals in part with the events that allegedly occurred during a September 2018 training session at Kennedy Hall — an East Los Angeles event venue where the plaintiffs maintain the alleged Banditos “sucker-punched” Art Hernandez and “knocked him out cold,” then kicked him while he was unconscious and unable to defend himself.
The suit alleges the assailants also grabbed Escobedo from behind twice and choked him unconscious in a manner that could have killed him.
The plaintiffs were threatened and bullied in attempts to get them to conform to a “corrupt culture,” were denied needed backup on dangerous calls and were “shaken down” and ordered to pay taxes to the gang, according to the suit. The plaintiffs also allege they were given excessive calls, sent hostile messages, forced to perform unpaid overtime and denied promotions and transfers.
But in their court papers, county attorneys argue the county is not responsible for anything that allegedly happened to the plaintiffs at Kennedy Hall.
“The county cannot be held liable for the fight since none of the people involved were acting within the scope of their employment with the department, not the plaintiffs or the individual defendants,” the county attorneys state in their court papers. “The party was voluntary — LASD did not require anyone to go. It was planned and funded by the deputies. None of the attendees were on-duty. And it took place at a site not owned or operated by the county.”
The county put the individual defendants on administrative leave, investigated the incident and then fired the individual defendants for their involvement, according to the county attorneys’ court papers.
The plaintiffs allege the Banditos are an all-Latino gang that targets young Latinos for harassment, but the county lawyers state in their court papers that the plaintiffs cannot show they heard a single comment or insult about their ethnicity.
The Banditos members actually admitted members of all races and treated all non-Banditos the same, regardless of race, and the plaintiffs were harassed only after they spoke out against the Banditos and not because the plaintiffs themselves are Latinos, the county lawyers state in their court papers.