LASD deputy charged with on-duty assault in Compton

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy was charged with assault for an incident that occurred while he was on duty in 2020. 

The incident in question happened in Compton on Dec. 14, 2020, at the Metro Blue Line train station, when deputies were dispatched to a report of a possible shoplifting.

"A man was detained and when he allegedly resisted going into a deputy's car, he was pepper-sprayed," a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. "The man, who was handcuffed, was kicking inside the vehicle as he was being transported to a hospital to be treated, decontaminated and cleared for booking. While en route to the hospital, he shattered one of the windows with his feet."

It was then that Deputy Hiraudli Lopez-Romero, 29, stopped the vehicle, exited and used a stun gun on the handcuffed man while he was in the back of the patrol car. 

"Lopez-Romero has been charged with unlawfully using a Taser stun gun on someone who had been detained for shoplifting in Compton," the statement says. 

The case reportedly remains under investigation by the sheriff's department's Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. 

"Those who are sworn to protect our communities are required to make ethical decisions within the confines of the law," L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón said. "But when they resort to using unreasonable and excessive force to exact revenge rather than in self-defense, their actions break the law that they are supposed to uphold. My office will hold them accountable for their actions."

Lopez-Romero is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 31.