A judge has dismissed all claims filed against Los Angeles County and a sheriff’s deputy that were filed by the mother of an 18-year-old man who alleged he was unjustifiably shot and killed during a 2019 traffic stop in East Los Angeles.
Plaintiff Leah Garcia had also alleged that her son, Paul Rea, feared that the deputies were part of an internal gang. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu found that there were no triable issues in Garcia’s case against the county and Deputy Hector Saavedra-Soto. One of Garcia’s daughters, Jaylene Rea, also was a plaintiff.
The suit was filed in November 2021 and the allegations included wrongful death and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In its May 2020 report finding that Saavedra-Soto acted in self-defense, the District Attorney’s Office stated that the deputies stopped a car in which Paul Rea was a passenger about 11 p.m. June 27, 2019, for running a stop sign. Another deputy, Argelia Huerta, placed the driver, Tommy Sanchez, in the patrol car after searching him and finding a small canister of marijuana, the report states.
Saavedra-Soto ordered Rea out of the stopped vehicle and escorted him to the patrol car, where he began to search him, the suit states. However, Rea broke free and punched Saavedra-Soto on the left side of his face, the report states. Saavedra-Soto grabbed Rea and placed him in a bear hug, at which time he felt a handle of a gun in Rea’s waistband, the report states.
After Rea looked at the deputy in a manner that suggested he wanted to kill him, Saavedra-Soto, fearing for his safety and that of his partner, acted reasonably by using deadly force and firing three to four shots, the report states. Another deputy later found a pistol in Rea’s right lower pant leg, according to the report.
But according to the suit, Rea knew that some East Los Angeles station deputies allegedly belong to a subgroup called the Banditos that are known for corruption and who harass area residents. Rea’s death was a “cold-blooded shooting” that was “absolutely unjustified,” and Garcia’s goal in filing the suit is to “show that the cowardly killing of Paul was a senseless and unwarranted act of police abuse,” according to the complaint.
Rea feared for his life after Saavedra-Soto approached the passenger side of Sanchez’s car and ordered him out of the car, so he began running and never struck the deputy, the suit stated.
Saavedra-Soto was able to grab Rea and shot him as he was falling to the ground, according to the suit.
“As a result of the county of Los Angeles’ failure to act, the Banditos gang was further emboldened and continued to encourage an environment of violence, corruption and fraud, all of which led to the constitutional violations and harms caused to decedent Paul Rea,” the suit states.
“Paul Rea was running away from Saavedra-Soto at the time of the shooting,” the suit states. “Accordingly, the shooting and killing of Paul Rea was unjustified and this use of force was unwarranted and excessive under the circumstances.”
The suit also alleged that Sanchez was unlawfully searched and unjustly arrested.
The emotional distress claim stemmed from the plaintiff’s allegation that Saavedra-Soto made a subsequent drive by the family home and in September 2021 antagonized Garcia and another relative near where a food truck was parked.
The deputy maintained he never drove by the residence and that he did not recognize the family members at the food truck, who he says turned out to be Garcia and another of her daughters, Janae Rea. Saavedra-Soto also says he later found out that Jaylene Rea was seated in a car across the street.