A deputy gang in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department left the subject of a pursuit to die inside a pillar at a Lancaster supermarket, a lawsuit claims.
Six years ago, former Deputy Aaron Tanner and colleagues were in pursuit of Raymundo Rivera, 35, when he had “gotten inside [the pillar at Winco] and gotten down to try and hide from the deputies and then couldn’t get out,” department officials said at the time.
However, Tanner’s ex-girlfriend is suing him for alleged domestic abuse, and in that lawsuit, she said Tanner “later boasted that he and other deputies had chased Rivera — and that they knew he’d fallen into the pillar,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Instead of trying to save him, the suit says, ‘the deputies left him there to die, and made false reports that they lost track of the suspect in the pursuit,” the Times added.
In the suit, the ex-girlfriend is identified only as Jane Doe because “she also alleged the ex-lawman bragged about being a ‘shot-caller,’ or leader, in a deputy gang known as the Rattlesnakes.”
Tanner also allegedly told Doe that his fellow Rattlesnakes would “take care of her” if she detailed his abuse.
“According to the complaint, Tanner told his ex the group effectively controls the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station and that its members allegedly intimidate other deputies, make false arrests and frame people,” the Times reports. “Until now, the group has so far garnered little scrutiny compared to more notorious deputy groups operating in East L.A. and Compton.”
This is the latest in a string of allegations regarding deputy gangs, which former Sheriff Alex Villanueva has frequently claimed do not exist.
Other Sheriff’s Department employees, however, assert that the gangs exist and that they were pressured to join them, a process that often involved getting a specific tattoo related to each group.
If they refused to join, former LASD employees faced negative repercussions at work, they allege.
