L.A. County deputy who kneeled on inmate’s head will not be charged, D.A.’s memo says
After getting “a little gushy,” D.A. officials wrote to the Sheriff’s Department on Friday, it will now take “a long time” to review video of the incident and prepare a new report about deputies’ actions. But they did not rule out bringing charges against the deputy, an unnamed source told USA TODAY.
At least one of the deputies has been given a 30-day suspension.
Los Angeles County Deputy Ryan Ramos was suspended on Monday after being arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.
Ramos, who is Latino, was responding to a domestic call late last month when he “briefly kneeled on a man’s head and then stood up,” according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Ramos has been on leave since then.
A video obtained by USA TODAY shows Ramos arresting Brian Johnson on July 31, then kneeling on Johnson’s head and slapping him in the face. Ramos later walked back to his patrol car. Johnson, who was arrested for domestic battery, was not identified either in the video or in the Sheriff’s Department’s official report, which does not include a description of the crime.
“The video speaks for itself,” said a Sheriff’s Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the report was not ready.
In the meantime, the department has launched an internal affairs investigation into the episode, said Lt. Andrew Neiman, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department. The department’s internal investigation is now under way, he said.
A second deputy, Sgt. Alex Alvarez, suffered a minor knee injury during the incident and was given a minor desk injury, Neiman said. The department is looking into that incident as