“The powers of the peace officer of both deputies have been suspended, pending the outcome of the investigation that resulted from the traffic collision that occurred on April 13, 2020.”
The FBI, Los Angeles County District Attorney and the Inspector General of Police have been notified of the decision, the department added.
CNN contacted the LA County Sheriff’s Department to get details about the April incident.
“We can’t comment further on the details as there are active details,” said department spokesman Shawn Dubski.
CNN contacted the California Highway Patrol, based on a Los Angeles Times report that the CHP responded to the April incident. The CHP said no one would be available for comment until Monday.
CNN also reached out to the LA County District Attorney and the FBI’s LA office fees but received no response.
In Gardano’s case, Deputy Miguel Vega did not appear to testify at the November 30 interrogation – ordered by the county coroner – and is out of the country until mid-December. He said he considered seeking his Fifth Amendment defense against self-incrimination, according to lawyer Adam Marangele.
Vega’s partner deputy Christopher Hernandez also did not appear for questioning during the incident, but he did file a statement saying, “I will accept my Fifth Amendment right if called upon and refuse to answer any questions.”
Sheriff Alex Villanueva “did not instruct anyone to make the fifth amendment or request,” the department told CNN in a statement.
On Saturday, Marengele told CNN, “Thanks or contact for any comment. At this point, I can’t add anything other than what has already been announced by the Sheriff’s Department.”
CNN has also tried to contact an attorney for Hernandez, but has received no response.
Garrardo was shot five times in the back
Deputies chased Gardado and caught him in the back of the business, where a deputy fired six rounds.
The coroner is calling for the first LA county inquiry in three decades
Concerns about transparency surrounding the shooting have plagued the sheriff’s department, which has placed a “security hold” on the Topsy report in an attempt to prevent its release. In a highly unusual move, Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Jonathan Lucas released the report anyway.
Two detectives from the LA County Sheriff’s Cow Slaughter Bureau took a stand, but they demanded a constitutional right not to testify. No sheriff’s officer has been charged with any crime.
U.S. Rips. Maxine Waters and Nanette Diaz Berag have called on California’s attorney general to begin an investigation into the deaths as a civil rights violation.
“It is aggressive that the officers involved in the murder of Andres Gardado are now refusing to testify in the coroner’s inquiry into Gardodo’s death,” Waters said in a statement released on December 1.
.
