A progressive, Latino candidate vying to lead the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) was accused of using a racial slur while referring to a black subordinate six years ago, according to a court document obtained by The Daily Wire.
The allegation was made in a 2012 lawsuit filed against Alex Villanueva which was settled out of court.
Villanueva, who retired from LASD in February with the rank of lieutenant, has emerged as the anti-establishment choice to reform the nation’s largest sheriff’s department. On November 6, he hopes to become the first challenger in more than 100 years to beat an incumbent sheriff in L.A. County. Several local Democratic clubs have endorsed Villanueva while his opponent, Sheriff Jim McDonnell, is backed by key elected officials.
The lawsuit claimed Villanueva, who was a shift manager at Century Regional Detention Facility (CRDF) at the time, created a hostile work environment by referring to an African-American male custody officer as a “knuckle-dragger” on two occasions in January 2012.
“The matter was settled as a nuisance lawsuit without any admission of guilt from any of the multiple parties involved, which included the county and the LASD,” Villanueva said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “My involvement in the lawsuit was tangential at best, was properly investigated by the department and no evidence of wrongdoing was established.”
“The plaintiff was seeking relief from a demotion from deputy to custody assistant which took place prior to my time at CRDF.”
His accuser, Officer Dwayne Perry, is still employed at that facility. He declined to comment on the circumstances of the settlement.
According to the complaint, Perry only witnessed one of the alleged incidents, confirming to a watch commander that “Defendant Villanueva had called him a ‘knuckle-dragger’ to his face” after a training exercise. Perry considered the term to be a racist slur.
The 2012 court filing states:
Defendant Villanueva made some general criticisms to the group, and then proceeded to state that the biggest problem with the drill was that a woman should not have been in the lead rescuing the heavy mannequin, and then said while pointing at Plaintiff that “it would have been better to have the knuckle-dragger” pull the Mannequin out of the cell. Plaintiff was shocked, surprised, and embarrassed…
The lawsuit went on to contend “Villanueva chose to consciously and willfully ignore” department policies requiring supervisors to prevent harassment based on race, labeling his behavior “fraudulent, malicious” and “oppressive.”
“The allegations that are made in this court document are not only disturbing about how (Villanueva) refers to blacks, but he also refers to women in a derogatory fashion,” said Lt. Brian Moriguchi, president of the L.A. County Professional Peace Officers Association, a union that endorsed McDonnell and represents nearly 6,000 LASD employees. “If the allegations are accurate, he’s saying that women do not belong in law enforcement; that they’re not as capable as men.”
Although Villanueva has not received official endorsements from local criminal justice reform organizations, an ACLU-led coalition has been indirectly promoting his candidacy by organizing community forums and encouraging strategic social media efforts. Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who chairs two of the organizations in that alliance, is hosting a series of events leading up to election day “in a get out the vote” drive targeting the sheriff’s race.
“This tour is partly about shaming ICE-loving incumbent L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and giving a sobering take on the two sheriff candidates,” Cullors posted on Facebook over the weekend.
Villanueva won the support of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs union, which represents more than 7,800 rank-and-file deputies and district attorney investigators. Its board praised his willingness to “speak truth to those in power” in a department that “is in need of transformation.”
In 2005, Villanueva sued the agency for racial discrimination.
LASD provides policing services to 42 contract cities, approximately 140 unincorporated communities, and hundreds of county facilities such as hospitals, community colleges, and superior courts. The department also operates the nation’s largest jail system, securing around 17,000 inmates daily.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter @Near_Chaos.