LOS ANGELES — A sheriff’s department commander filed a damages claim against Los Angeles County on Monday alleging he and others faced retaliation by Sheriff Alex Villanueva for challenging the agency’s handling of a video that shows a deputy kneeling on a handcuffed inmate’s head for three minutes.
The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, also contests Villanueva’s timeline of events following the altercation, which occurred on March 10, 2021. In a news conference last month, Villanueva said he did not see surveillance video of the altercation until November, and he responded by immediately ordering a criminal investigation.
In his legal claim, Cmdr. Allen Castellano contends that Villanueva and at least three other agency executives saw the video within days of the incident, and the sheriff said he would “handle the matter,” noting that the department did “not need bad media at this time.”
Following news of the claim, Villanueva scheduled a news conference for Tuesday morning, when he plans to “discuss false claims” made in the filing, which the department attributed to “a disgruntled employee.”
The altercation, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, occurred at the San Fernando Courthouse, where a 24-year-old inmate named Enzo Escalante allegedly punched sheriff’s Deputy Douglas Johnson in the face. Johnson and other deputies wrestled Escalante to the ground, with Johnson putting his knee on the inmate’s head.
Security video of the altercation shows Johnson...
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