Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has been found personally liable in a case involving inmate abuse by a federal jury, and could be required to pay $100,000 out-of-pocket in damages.
This is the first time Baca has been found personally at fault in a use-of-force case, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The verdict comes following a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Tyler Willis in October 2010, alleging that deputies severely beat him while he was an inmate awaiting trial in 2009, causing injuries including fractures and head injuries.
The jury found that the conduct of Sheriff Baca, Capt. Daniel Cruz and Deputies Anthony Vasquez, Mark Farino and Pedro Geurrero had been “malicious, oppressive or in reckless disregard” of Willis’ rights after a weeklong trial.
The defendants agreed to divide $165,000 in punitive damages, with Baca paying $100,000.
Baca was found liable after attorneys argued that he failed to heed warnings that the use of heavy flashlights to control inmates can cause serious injuries, citing findings by a citizen’s commission that found Baca failed to control use of force in county jails, according to the LA Times.
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department plans to appeal the verdict, saying that deputies acted within policy and that the use of force was “brought on by the inmate.” He also said the jury erred in their consideration of the jail commission’s findings.
“We respect juries, but they made a mistake,” Whitmore was quoted as saying in the LA Times. “This is a mistake that needs to be rectified, and rectified quickly, and we will.”
The jury’s finding is unusual, but not unheard of. In 1992, a federal jury found then-L.A. Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and nine officers liable for damages in a shooting that killed three suspects and wounded a fourth after a robbery of a McDonald’s restaurant.
The jury’s findings come amid Baca’s campaign for re-election to his fourth term as L.A. County sheriff and a federal investigation into internal corruption and inmate abuse in Baca’s jails.