Two veteran Los Angeles police sworn members are suing the city for whistleblower retaliation, alleging that a captain and a deputy chief targeted them for being a witness to a Black officer’s complaint that he was picked to be part of Mayor Karen Bass’ bodyguard detail because he, like the mayor, is Black.
Lt. Eric Bixler and Det. Richard Jaramillo filed the whistleblower lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking unspecified damages. A representative for the City Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Wednesday.
The LAPD’s U.S. Marshals Task Force combines the resources of the United States Marshals Service with those of the department to locate, arrest and prosecute dangerous and violent criminals in Los Angeles. The local task force is made up of about a dozen 12 LAPD detectives and police officers and one U.S. marshal, all of whom are supervised by Bixler and Jaramillo.
While detectives and others do investigations to identify criminals, the task force is primarily responsible for apprehending those suspects. Bixler was hired by the LAPD in 1996 and Jaramillo in 2000, and both have been task force heads for many years.
Since 2020, the task force has received long-term “loans” of officers from the Metropolitan Division to be part of a “chase unit” to help bring about arrests when it is most safe to do so, according to the suit, which states that Officers Jonathan Pacheco and Derrick Boykins were among such “loaned” officers.
After Mayor Karen Bass was sworn into office in early 2023, then-Police Chief Michel Moore directed Metro supervisors to try and recruit Black officers for the mayor’s bodyguard detail without her knowledge, the suit states.
“Instead, Moore’s recruitment of Black officers for the detail was an attempt to pander to the mayor,” the suit states.
After Boykins, who is Black, was asked to work in the mayor’s detail, he complained to Jaramillo and Bixler that he thought the department was singling out Black officers for recruitment for the job and that it constituted race discrimination, the suit states.
“Boykins was concerned that he and other Black officers in Metro would be subjected to retaliation if they declined to be assigned to the detail,” the suit stated
In February 2023, the plaintiffs overheard a telephone conversation Boykins had with his brother, an LAPD captain, who confirmed that Metro had received a directive to try and recruit Black officers for the mayoral protection, the suit states.
Jaramillo, in accord with department policy, filed a personnel complaint on Boykins’ behalf, the suit states. Boykins soon thereafter told Internal Affairs during an interview that Moore and Capt. Mario Mota were responsible for what he believed was unlawful discrimination and Boykins identified the plaintiffs as witnesses to his complaint, the suit states.
After Bixler’s brother retired in August 2023, Mota replaced him and began to retaliate against Bixler and Jaramillo by removing their long-term “loan” officers and setting up a rotation that all but ensured there would be less experienced officers for the chase unit, the suit states.
“Since the chase unit officers are primarily responsible for the ultimate arrest of the dangerous fugitives the task force is sent after, this unreasonably jeopardized the safety of plaintiffs…,” the suit states.
On multiple occasions, Mota and a deputy chief who is friendly with Mota have openly maligned the plaintiffs’ supervisory skills in front of other LAPD command staff, denied them and their officers resources necessary to keep them safe and attempted to remove responsibilities from them, the suit states.
Mota and the deputy chief also told Interim Chief Dominic Choi and two other LAPD command level members that Bixler and Jaramillo are running the task force “unsafely” and that they have “no control over their officers,” the suit alleges.
The department’s alleged actions have put Bixler and Jaramillo in “unnecessary danger” and each has suffered damage to his reputations, according to the suit, which also states that their ability to advance to coveted positions has likely been negatively impacted.