Hoping to avoid a potentially costly civil rights lawsuit, Los Angeles County will stop providing funds for additional housing investigators to the desert communities of Palmdale and Lancaster, where officials have been accused of targeting nonwhite recipients of federal housing subsidies for eviction and harassment.

The action, which the Board of Supervisors took in closed session Tuesday night, is one of a number of measures the board has agreed to implement in the face of legal challenges by civil rights organizations and an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

Read more here.

By M. Dilworth

Darrell Logan Jr.

Darrell Logan Jr., 32, was shot five times in the back, once in the back of the head, once in the buttocks, twice in the back of the legs and once in the right hand during the Oct. 13, 2011 incident, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Autopsy Report. A “thru-and-thru” bullet to the left knee was labeled as “unknown direction,” according to the report.

“Why would you shoot him in the back?” said Logan’s mother, Arzenia Ratliff. “Because he wasn’t listening to your commands? That’s not fair!”

According to a Sheriff’s press report, released the day of the shooting, Palmdale Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to Logan’s home in the 3100 block of Heather Avenue in Palmdale after receiving a call about gunfire coming from the residence. The report states deputies made “verbal commands for the occupants to exit the garage. The suspect refused to exit.”

“When deputies entered the garage they were confronted by the armed suspect and a deputy-involved shooting occurred,” the Sheriff’s report states. “The 32-year old male suspect [Logan] was struck and transported to a local hospital where he was subsequently pronounced dead.”

No deputies were injured and a handgun was recovered at the scene, according to the report.

According to the coroner’s narrative, Sheriff’s detectives requested gunshot residue, hair and finger nail evidence from Logan’s body shortly after the incident.

Logan’s wife, Krystle Washington, who was at home during the incident, said Logan fired a gun once in the air; but she says this happened before deputies arrived. Read her story here.

Logan's mother, Arzenia Ratliff, speaks at a candlelight vigil for Logan on Oct. 15, 2011.

“The witness is telling me that my son’s hands were up the whole time, he had no weapon, he had no gun at all…” Ratliff said. “From my knowledge, if they found a gun, it was much much later.”

Ratliff, who ordered the autopsy report about six weeks ago and received it Saturday, said she believes the autopsy proves that her son’s shooting was unjustified.

“It tells me that my son was mostly shot in the back,” Ratliff said. “And then he got shot in his right hand, and he is right handed. That tells me that maybe he didn’t have a gun in his hand.”

The coroner’s autopsy report describes each of the 11 bullet wounds, and how each projectile traveled from back to front in Logan’s body. Five of the gunshot wounds were listed as fatal, one as potentially fatal, and the rest as non-fatal, according to the report. Of the five fatal shots, two bullets entered the back area and exited the chest area; one entered the mid back and was recovered from Logan’s body; one bullet entered the back and exited the abdomen; and one bullet entered the right buttocks, penetrating the right kidney, liver, and lower lung, according to the report. The bullet to the back of Logan’s head was listed as potentially fatal and the remaining gunshot wounds throughout the back of Logan’s body were listed as nonfatal.

Despite repeated requests for comment, officials have said little about the deputy-involved shooting to The AV Times, citing ongoing investigations involving the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, and attorneys from the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review (OIR).

At a townhall meeting Nov. 28, 2011, Attorney Walter Katz from OIR said there's been no finding on whether or not the shooting was justified.

“We just can’t discuss it right now until the investigation is completely and thoroughly done and the DA’s office has a chance to review it, analyze it and make their final determination,” La Berge said at the meeting. Read more on that meeting here.

Logan’s mother has retained an attorney and is pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department.

“I’m not going to stop,” said Ratliff. “I would like to see the Sheriff’s Department use different tactics when they’re trying to arrest or subdue someone. There’s teargas, rubber bullets, bean bags, dogs, negotiation and swat. They could have even called me, because I could have talked my son out of all this.”

The coroner’s autopsy was conducted by Deputy Medical Examiner, Dr. Kevin Young, and witnessed by Sgt. J. Frendendall of the Sheriff’s Department and investigator Gregory Frum of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.

View the Autopsy Report here. http://www.theavtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/the-Autopsy-Report-here..pdf

September 29, 2011
By M. Dilworth

PALMDALE – Three attorneys and three investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice met with several community leaders Tuesday evening at the Greenhouse Café in Palmdale.

The meeting was part of the DOJ’s ongoing investigation into alleged discriminatory policing by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lancaster and Palmdale stations as well as the separate, ongoing investigation into alleged harassment and mistreatment of Section 8 recipients in the Antelope Valley.

Darren Parker

Parker said leaders from the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), The Community Action League, the Merit Commission, and the Human Relations Commission were present at the meeting.

“The meeting with the Department of Justice was extremely productive,” said NAACP President Juan Blanco. “They indicated that they were here to look into what could be considered improper procedures within the Sheriff’s Department.”

Parker said the meeting opened with introductions from the Department of Justice as well as from community leaders.

“This was an opportunity to put the faces and the names of the attorneys for the Department of Justice together with the faces and the names of the community leaders that had been sharing input over the last year,” he said.

The DOJ then took questions from each organization, regarding how both investigations would proceed, he said.

“The department was very clear that they are in the initial phases of the investigation, it being only a month and a half old,” Parker said. “It was noted by the Justice Department that this case got their attention because of the good work of the community, so that in itself is an achievement.”

Parker said the DOJ will now focus on getting direct input from individuals in the community who feel like they have been victimized by local law enforcement, as opposed to before when leaders forwarded complaints to the Justice Department.

Juan Blanco

Lancaster and Palmdale residents who feel like they have been mistreated by local law enforcement can contact the Department of Justice, directly, at 202-305-3192 to report these incidents. Residents seeking to report incidents of harassment and abuse in Section 8 are asked to contact the DOJ, directly, at 202-305-3826.

Additionally, Parker said the Merit Commission will host a town hall meeting within the month of October to gather testimony from residents, which will be forwarded to the Justice Department. The DOJ will directly follow up with these residents.

He says additional attorneys and investigators from the Department of Justice will visit the Antelope Valley, again, towards the end of October to continue their investigations.

“They are committed, not only for the short term, but for the long term,” Parker said. “They are going to do an intensive and fair investigation.”

In the meantime, Parker said the Merit Commission remains committed to working with local law enforcement.

“It has always been the purpose of the Merit Commission to collectively work together with law enforcement and others to make sure that we have the best quality of life for all residents in the Antelope Valley,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Justice was in the Antelope Valley on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week conducting its ongoing investigation. Tuesday’s meeting was one of several meetings that took place during the DOJ’s visit, Parker said.

The mission of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission is to install a system to facilitate the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of hate crimes; lend victim assistance and identify initiatives to significantly reduce the incidence of hate crimes in the Antelope Valley.

Membership:
All organizations must provide a copy of their bylaws and attend 3 consecutive meetings. Attend Diversity training class from the Museum of Tolerance. At-large members must attend the training and 3 meetings. Both must be nominated by an existing member and elected by the body.

What is a Hate Crime?
According to California state law, hate crime charges are filed when there is evidence that bias, hatred, or prejudice based on the victim’s real or perceived race/ethnicity, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation is a substantial factor in the commission of the offense. This definition is codified in the California penal code sections 422.55 to 422.95 pertaining to hate crime.

Evidence of such bias, hatred, or prejudice can be direct or circumstantial. It can occur before, during, or after the commission of the offense.

Hate speech is a criminal offense when the speaker/writer has threatened violence against a specific person or group of persons. The threat must be immediate and unequivocal. The aggressor must also have the ability to carry out that threat.

Frequently, derogatory words or epithets are directed against a member of a protected class, but no violence is threatened and there is no apparent ability to harm the target. Such hate incidents are important indicators of intergroup tensions. They are not, however, criminal offenses. Such language is protected by free speech rights set forth in the California and U.S. constitutions.