A former Montebello police chief has filed a whistleblower retaliation suit against the city, alleging the city manager fired him earlier this year for refusing to pressure the police union to accept a contract offered by the administration in the southeast Los Angeles County community.
Former Chief Paul Espinosa’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for his alleged physical, mental and emotional injuries as well as damage to emotional distress. City Manager Raul Alvarez is named in the pleadings, but not as a defendant. Alvarez did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Thursday.
“As a … result of the city’s retaliation against plaintiff, his reputation and career prospects have been and will continue to be substantially and adversely impacted,” according to the suit.
Espinosa served 28 years in the Los Angeles Police Department and was serving as a captain when he was hired as the Montebello chief in April 2022.
In June 2024, while contract talks were ongoing between the city and the police officers’ union, Alvarez pressured Espinosa to push the union to accept the city’s proposed contract, stating, “It’s a good contract, you need to make them realize that” and “This is a contract they should accept, and it starts at the top, it starts with your leadership and the tone you’re setting,” according to the suit.
Espinosa believed Alvarez wanted him to misuse his authority as the chief to coerce union leadership into...
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