Ex-LA County deputies involved in Guardado shooting face charges for illegally detaining a skateboarder

Two former sheriff's deputies who were involved in the 2020 shooting death of Andres Guardado were indicted Thursday for violating the civil rights of a skateboarder that they allegedly falsely imprisoned in their patrol car.

Miguel Vega and Chris Hernandez were charged with conspiracy, witness tampering, falsification of records, and deprivation of rights. If convicted as charged, both former deputies face decades in prison.

According to court papers, Jesus Alegria was in an enclosed skate park at Wilson Park in Compton on April 13, 2020, when the deputies arrived.

"To this day, Jesus Alegria is traumatized and he doesn't want to come out and publicly speak about it cause they think they'll pursuit him," said his lawyer Humberto Guizar. 

The deputies contacted two young Black males outside the park and Alegria yelled at the deputies to stop bothering the youths.

Alegria says he was pulled through an opening in the park fence and placed in the back of the deputy vehicle, according to the indictment.

He remained confined in the back of the cruiser during a subsequent chase, which ended when Vega crashed and Alegria was injured, federal prosecutors allege.

"Jesus Alegria was kidnapped by those two deputies, essentially, thrown in the police vehicle without handcuffs and those deputies went on a rage of driving in South Central Los Angeles at a high rate of speed they crashed into a BMW and they crashed into a wall," Guizar said.

The indictment also alleges the former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, obstructed justice in various ways to conceal and cover up the unlawful detention three years ago.

"The indictment alleges that these two deputies violated a young person's constitutional rights by willfully and illegally detaining him without just cause," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. "Officers who abuse their power must be held accountable, and my office is committed to prosecuting violations of civil rights by those who violate their oaths and victimize those who they were sworn to protect."

The indictment alleges that Vega and Hernandez locked Alegria in the back of their patrol car without handcuffs and without a seatbelt -- a violation of department policy -- and never told him he was under arrest or advised him of his rights.

According to the indictment, after leaving the park, Vega, who was driving the LASD patrol vehicle with Hernandez in the front seat, allegedly told Alegria that the deputies were going to set him up and drop him in gang territory. Hernandez also said that Alegria would be beaten, prosecutors allege.

The indictment alleges that, even though Vega also reported the traffic collision, it was not disclosed that Alegria had been in the patrol vehicle during the collision following the short pursuit.

Alegria was taken to a hospital to receive treatment for the injury he sustained from the collision, and the indictment alleges that Hernandez directed a deputy at the hospital to issue Alegria a citation for being under the influence of methamphetamine.

Vega and Hernandez were also involved in the June 2020 killing of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot five times in the back by Vega as the deputies pursued him in Gardena after he allegedly displayed a handgun, according to court records.

The shooting led to widespread protests, and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Guardado's family against the county was settled last year for $8 million.