Activists call out LA County supervisors for $4 million in settlements, spike in jail deaths

Advocates called out the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday for failing to hold the Sheriff’s Department accountable for alleged excessive force incidents that led to the payout of $4 million in settlements this week and for a spike of 16 in-custody deaths within the department’s jails so far this year.

JusticeLA, a coalition of justice reform advocates, rallied outside the Hall of Administration to highlight the settlements and the county’s lack of progress on closing Men’s Central Jail, an overcrowded and deteriorated facility the Board of Supervisors have pledged to shutter for years with little momentum.

“Instead of holding violent deputies accountable, the county continues to protect them, hiding behind loopholes, security holds and silence,” said Stephanie Luna, the aunt of Anthony Vargas, a 21-year-old killed by deputies in 2018.

The Board of Supervisors approved a $3 million settlement with Vargas’ family Tuesday. Settlement documents allege the deadly encounter occurred after two sheriff’s deputies chased Vargas believing he was involved in a robbery in August 2018. Amid a struggle between three men, the deputies alleged they saw a firearm in Vargas’ hand and opened fire out of fear for their safety. A semi-automatic firearm, which had not been fired, was recovered from the scene, according to investigators.

An autopsy report released seemingly contradicted statements from the department. The autopsy indicated Vargas was shot twice in the back of the head, 10 times in the back and once in the back of his right arm, though the officers claimed they both fired when Vargas turned with a gun in his hand toward one of them, according to LAist.

The District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and determined the officers had acted in self-defense and did not file charges, according to the county’s summary.

The family sued civilly in 2019, but the case was declared a mistrial four years later after the jurors failed to come to reach a verdict. The family’s attorney, Humberto Guizar, told ABC7 at the time the gun found after the shooting contributed to the deadlock. The family’s attorneys had alleged the weapon was planted.

During the same meeting Tuesday, the supervisors approved two other settlements relating to allegations of excessive force by sheriff’s deputies. The county will pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit from two individuals who accused a sheriff’s deputy of slamming one of them into a cash register and then shutting a door on the same individual’s foot during a detainment at Target in Westlake Village in 2021, according to a report on the settlement.

The other case, which will cost the county $750,000 to resolve, involves a 2021 traffic stop that escalated into deputies pummeling a man who allegedly resisted their efforts to handcuff him.

During the meeting, advocates described the payouts as “emblematic of the board’s approach to accountability” and said the governing body is not doing enough to address the problems within the Sheriff’s Department that led to the violent escalations and to a spike in deaths in the jails.

Since the start of the year, 16 people have died in custody in L.A. County jails. That’s twice as many deaths compared to the same time period in 2023 and 2024, records showed. Three people died in a single day on March 30 this year.

The causes of those deaths are still under investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Department’s website.

“We’re seeing one person die every six days in LASD custody when this jail should have been closed long ago,” said Janet Asante, one of the rally’s organizers.

Tennel Crook’s 19-year-old son, Kamren Nettles, died of a fentanyl overdose in Men’s Central Jail in 2023. He was one of 45 to die in custody that year. Another 32 died in the county’s jails the next year.

“How many more people have to die?” she asked Tuesday. “I just don’t understand it.”

The county originally estimated in March 2021 that it would need to reduce the overall jail population to 8,500 to make the closure of troubled Men’s Central Jail possible. Today, that number sits at about 12,900 and is reportedly ticking up following the passage of the tough-on-crime Proposition 36 last year.

Wilford Pickney Jr., the newly hired executive director of the newly renamed Community Safety Implementation Team in charge of the closure, delivered an ill-received progress report to the board Tuesday that indicated his team needs another six to nine months to complete an assessment on how to best proceed with the task.

Both advocates and the supervisors criticized the length of time needed and noted that the supervisors approved the plan to close Men’s Central four years ago.

“This effort has languished for far too long and it has harmed far too many people,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.

Pinkney, who started just four months ago and has spent much of that time assembling his staff and meeting with stakeholders, said that while a longer wait is not ideal, that time is necessary to align all of the work done over the years to “today’s realities.”

In the meantime, the team will continue to focus on three areas necessary for the long term success of the closure: reducing the inflow of new inmates, shortening detention times by expediting the court process, and prioritizing the release of individuals “to safe and appropriate community-based alternatives.”

“But let me be clear, our goal is to close Men’s Central Jail without a replacement,” Pinkney said. “That has not changed.”