Inmate, suspect deaths on rise

Watchdog group report says jail fatalities, officer-involved shootings in ’20 trended upward

Los Angeles County’s top watchdog on Tuesday voiced concern to leaders over the rising numbers of inmate deaths and deputy-involved shootings, saying they are troubling trends for the Sheriff’s Department, which has pushed back on demands for transparency.

“Even if you leave out COVID, this year had more (in-custody) deaths than previously,” said Inspector General Max Huntsman, whose office is tasked with oversight of the department and other county offices. “And out on the street, the number of shootings has gone up as well. Year over year, it’s increased. Those are both very troubling figures.”

Huntsman did not cite how many of the in-custody deaths were coronavirus-related.

The latest numbers, part of Huntsman’s quarterly report on the department, revealed that 2020 ended with 41 in-custody deaths, more than double the total of 2016, when there were 20. The previous high was 34, in 2013.

Four of last year’s inmate deaths were linked to suicide, 33 were non-homicide and four were homicides, according to the report, based on numbers supplied by the Sheriff’s Department.

Seven of last year’s inmate deaths occurred between October and December. They ranged from one inmate who died Oct. 1 at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar after being transported from North County Correctional Facility

in Castaic for “a higher level of care” to an inmate who deputies discovered Dec. 18 in a cell at Men’s Central Jail suffering from an apparent suicide attempt. He died four days later.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva did not speak at the board meeting Tuesday. Department officials did not provide a comment Tuesday.

The report also highlighted a rise in deputy involved shootings. The report’s focus on shootings in which a deputy “intentionally fired a firearm at a human being or intentionally or unintentionally fired a firearm and a person was injured or killed” was 32 times — a five-yearhigh — and the shootings resulted in 17 deaths.

In the last quarter of 2020, shootings were reported in the department’s South L.A., East L.A., Lancaster, Industry, Lakewood, Norwalk and Century divisions. Seven people were struck by deputies’ gunfire; six fatally, according to Huntsman’s report.

Summaries of the incidents reflected a department still in the process of rolling out its body-worn cameras, Huntsman said. Their usage is still spotty — a fact that Huntsman said is understandable to a point, since they are still in an early phase.

For instance, in an Oct. 17 case in Lancaster, a responding deputy fired at an suspect shooting in the direction of a large crowd — after the suspect appeared to disregard an order to drop the gun. Deputies arrested the suspect. The responding deputy had not yet been issued a body-worn camera, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The deputy who responded during the pursuit had one, but did not turn it on until after the chase began.

Body-worn cameras were not deployed to chronicle a Norwalk shooting, nor during another in South L.A. In an Industry case, the camera wasn’t deployed until after the shooting, according to Huntsman’s report.

The department received its first shipment of cameras on Sept. 2, one day after the Board of Supervisors voted to transfer $25.5 million to the department to fund the devices.

At the time, supervisors noted that the presence of cameras doesn’t necessarily prevent violence.

“These body-worn cameras, they don’t solve everything, but they put a lot of things in perspective,” then-Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said.

“It’s premature to expect that deputies always do this properly and start disciplining them strongly for not following the rules because it’s just rolling out now,” Huntsman said. “I hope that soon we can get to the point where we can expect deputies to always turn them on in appropriate circumstances, but they need clear policy and clear direction and they need to practice. When that happens then yes, I think we can expect they will be used consistently.”

But Hunstman warned he is “concerned” about whether the department intends to issue a clear auditing policy for the cameras, or give Huntsman’s office access to footage.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell said concern over reports of cameras turned off during deputy responses.

“They must be turned on to be an effective tool to be used at all and turned on not to just reflect a partial engagement but to reflect the entire engagement — all of the events that led up to use of force or excessive use of force,” she said.

The Board on Tuesday also requested that the sheriff work with the county counsel and the Office of Immigrant affairs to tweak policies and practices to allow victims and survivors of crimes, who are undocumented, to access and obtain police reports and other relevant documents without the need for a government-issued identification.

Tuesday’s reports arrived after a year of tension between Villanueva’s department and demands for more transparency from the Civilian Oversight Commission, Huntsman and the Board of Supervisors over high-profile deputy shootings.

The tension has culminated in a probe launched in January by the state’s attorney general’s office, investigating allegations of excessive force, retaliation and other misconduct.

Supervisors also have requested research into how Villaneuva might be impeached and whether a sheriff can be appointed rather than elected.