Civil Rights Group Wants Officer Fired

A civil rights group is calling for the dismissal of a high-ranking member of the Los Angeles Housing Authority’s police force who was fired from a previous police job for beating a handcuffed suspect.

The state chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality in South Los Angeles will hold a news conference this week to urge the Housing Authority to discharge Lt. Richard Musquiz, who oversees detectives, police background checks and other units for the agency’s 77-member police force.

The force handles security in the city’s public housing projects, which include 8,700 units.

Sandra Moore, vice president of the chapter, said Friday that she was shocked to learn recently that Musquiz was fired from the Huntington Park Police Department in 1983.

“When you talk about beating up handcuffed people, our community has had enough of that,” she said.

She added: “It adds insult to injury that this guy oversees internal affairs.”

Moore and her group were instrumental in persuading the FBI to launch a civil rights investigation last month into the Huntington Park police. Since then, Moore said, she has received several tips about alleged wrongdoing by current and former Huntington Park officers, including Musquiz.

In an interview, Musquiz conceded that he was wrong in hitting a handcuffed prisoner but said that the incident took place 17 years ago and that he has learned from his mistakes.

“After that I learned that you have to maintain your composure,” he said.

Musquiz oversees the internal affairs unit, but he said the sergeant who conducts the internal affairs investigations reports directly to the chief of the Housing Authority police.

Musquiz accused disgruntled Housing Authority officers who have been suspended by the agency’s police, and their union, of leaking details about his past.

The head of the Housing Authority’s police officers’ union acknowledged that his group had given Moore the information about Musquiz but denied that it did so in retaliation.

Michael Duffy, president of the union, said his group learned about Musquiz’s dismissal about six months ago and immediately urged Housing Authority Police Chief Raymond Palacios to demote Musquiz.

“Our position has always been that he is not the right man for the job,” Duffy said of Musquiz.

Palacios could not be reached for comment.

The controversy stems from an incident in July 1983, when Musquiz was a 23-year-old officer. According to news accounts and court records, he was called to pick up a suspected shoplifter who had been handcuffed and detained by a security guard at a drugstore.

The suspect, who was allegedly drunk, spit in Musquiz’s face, according to court records. Musquiz responded by punching the suspect in the face several times and kicking him after the suspect fell to the ground, according to the records. They also say Musquiz told his sergeant that the suspect’s injuries were caused by the suspect’s slipping onto the concrete floor.

The suspect was treated at a hospital for a gash on the back of his head and a swollen left cheek, according to court records.

Musquiz fought his firing, taking his case to the California Court of Appeal, where he lost in 1986.

He has since worked for several small law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles County Safety Police and Cerritos College campus security.

Musquiz has been a police lieutenant at the Housing Authority for 3 1/2 years.

CORE asked the FBI to investigate the Huntington Park police force last month after several former officers and activists complained about an alleged pattern of abuse of minorities.

Moore organized a meeting between FBI agents and several former Huntington Park police officers to discuss the allegations. Soon afterward, the FBI announced that it had launched a civil rights investigation.

One former officer who attended the meeting told FBI agents that some Huntington Park officers wear tattoos of the grim reaper bordered by the letters “HPK,” which the officer said stands for Huntington Park Killers.

Huntington Park officials dispute the allegations, saying they welcome an investigation to clear the city’s name.