Attorney ‘Not Surprised’ That Deputy Is Cleared
The attorney for the family of a teen-ager who was fatally shot by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy at the Ramoma Gardens housing project in East Los Angeles said Wednesday that he “was not surprised” that the department has cleared the deputy of wrongdoing.
R. Samuel Paz, the attorney for the family of Arturo (Smokey) Jimenez, who was shot on Aug. 3, said that “the only place truth will be shown is in the civil courthouse.” Paz has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department on behalf of the Jimenez family.
An internal Sheriff’s Department investigation has concluded that the deputies involved acted within department guidelines for the use of deadly force during a confrontation with Jimenez. The two deputies had been cleared earlier by the district attorney’s office and the county grand jury. Paz maintains that Jimenez was shot for no reason.
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