Stehr, who stepped down late last year after 30 years at the Burbank department, declined to be interviewed for this article.ĭahlia said in court papers that early on he had kept quiet because he’d been threatened by Rodriguez, Duran, Canales and Penaranda. Duran then began laughing, the suit states.ĭahlia also alleged that he regularly had heard people being beaten inside interview rooms and that then-Chief Stehr had encouraged the beatings.Ĭity attorneys have denied the allegations in Dahlia’s suit as well as other cases brought by members of the force. In his suit, Dahlia said Duran told him the suspect had urinated and defecated when Rodriguez threatened him. That detective, Angelo Dahlia, has sued the department, alleging that he was harassed and intimidated by Rodriguez and others in an effort to silence him. The case was reopened last spring when a detective told authorities that he had watched Rodriguez grab a suspect by the throat and put a gun to his head while the suspect was sitting in a hallway in the police station waiting to be interviewed. Rodriguez was present when at least one of the suspects was being booked.Īt the time, there were anonymous complaints of excessive force, but an internal probe found no substantiation for them. Over the next couple of months, Gunn and Duran helped conduct searches of locations linked to the robbery suspects, most of them Mara Salvatrucha gangsters. They escaped with nearly $15,000 in cash.Ĭanales and Penaranda were called in to help investigate the case. 28, 2007, six masked gunmen burst into the restaurant just after closing time, placed employees in restraints and forced the manager to open the safe. did you hit me?” He said he was smoking marijuana when the police rushed in.Īttempts to reach Escarsega were unsuccessful.Īnother case under review involves the treatment of alleged gang members arrested after a robbery of Porto’s Bakery, a popular eatery on Magnolia Boulevard. Bautista said he did not see the blow but heard Escarsega yell, “Why. Police said he had banged his face on the edge of a kitchen counter when he dropped to the floor as ordered.īut Bautista, in an interview with The Times, said that one of the officers hit Escarsega for no reason. After a discussion with one of the arresting officers - Canales - he decided not to. A watch commander asked if he wanted to file a complaint. When Escarsega was taken to police headquarters for booking, he had bruises on his face. Officers said both men complied when commanded to “get down.” Next to him, police said, was Arturo “Frog” Bautista, who was holding a TEC-9 semiautomatic pistol, which he quickly placed on the counter in front of him. According to police, Escarsega was standing in the kitchen of his Northridge condo holding several bags of marijuana and counting money when officers raided the residence. 23, 2007, arrest of alleged drug dealer Rene Escarsega. One of the incidents under federal investigation is the Aug. The officers, either individually or through their attorneys, have denied any wrongdoing. Chris Canales, a former LAPD officer and Sgt. Among the others targeted in the federal investigation are Jose Duran, a sergeant in vice/narcotics who worked closely with the enforcement detail Omar Rodriguez, who worked in the detail years ago but is now in charge of recruiting Det. Gunn was a sergeant in charge of the department’s Special Enforcement Detail, an elite unit responsible for making high-risk arrests.
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