Violence Involving Deputies
I am glad that you have given publicity to the brutality cases of some deputies of the County Sheriff’s Department. I am sick and tired of having to pay, as a taxpayer, millions of dollars for damages simply because some brutal deputy decides that the apprehended person does not act the way he expects him or her to act.
I remember one case of this nature that happened over a year ago. It was at the Alpine Village in Torrance where about a hundred persons watched with shock and dismay the brutal treatment of two young white men. When I arrived one deputy was pummeling one of the kids although he was giving him no resistance at all. The other young man was practically on his knees begging the deputy to stop hitting his friend. This act seemed to infuriate another deputy, who then proceeded to throw this young man against the side of a car.
Deputies must be made to understand that they are only supposed to apprehend persons and not to mete out punishment. This is the job for the judge and the jury.
If Block doesn’t stop these practices then the U.S. Department of Justice should intervene and investigate the whole mess.
JOHN F. MENDEZ
Los Angeles
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