Christmas party brawl leads to 7 L.A. County deputies being relieved of duty pending probe

A Christmas party for employees from Men’s Central Jail turned ugly when a brawl broke out that resulted in seven Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies being relieved of duty pending an investigation, an official confirmed.

Roughly 100 guests were gathered Friday at the Quiet Cannon banquet hall in Montebello, where an argument led to violence, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore.

It’s unclear if alcohol was involved, but “it was a Christmas party, one could assume there was,” Whitmore said.

No gunshots were fired but deputies may have been armed, he said.

“Deputies that have their badges also have guns, so that will certainly be looked at,” he said.

At least two people were mildly to moderately injured, Whitmore said. Seven deputies were relieved of duty with pay this week, pending an internal criminal investigation.

“They’ve been asked to clean out their lockers,” Whitmore said.

Montebello police may have been called out, but no arrests have been made yet, Whitmore said. Relatives may have been at the Christmas party, but only deputies were involved in the brawl, Whitmore said.

“This investigation will go wherever the evidence leads,” he said.

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Comments

[Dan Summers]

If you're upset about the slap on the wrist, then blame public unions. Its those disasterous unions that keep sloppy policement in their jobs, just the same as they keep lazy DWP workers and incompetent teachers.

Eliminate public unions and the state will be much better off.

[ons el sonador]

i can not beleive this...this is the police for crying out loud...they wouldnt do such a thing....jjejejejejejejejejejejeejejej YEAH RIGHT...CRIMINALS WHO HIDE BEHIND THE BADGE IS WHAT THEY ARE...

[RP]

Blah, blah, blah. You sit there at your computer/phone/whatever and make your comments that for the most part are every bit as immature as the behavior of these Deputies. Most of you are like the little kid that yells and stomps his/her feet when having a temper tantrum. "Mommy, he's LOOKING at me!!!!" Grow Up.

[Truth]

Too funny most of you dont say a word when a negro or a mexican kill someone but you all chime in when its the cops that have an issue . of course this wont be posted anyway because the times go out of there way to hide anything ANYTHING crime related that has the word black or mexican involved.

[Eric]

there MAY have been drinking, there MAY have been guns, there MAY have been families, there MAY be a reporter writing an article without knowing anything about what happened!!! I am amazed people pay for this paper. At any rate LASD does hire some knucklehead young kids, but they do not put up with this stuff anymore no doubt some deputies will be looking for work somewhere soon.

[Ray]

Just being good ol boys.

[david]

The article is less than truthful, i.e. "may have been armed". A LASO Sheriffs Deputy is on duty 24/7 and obliged to carry their weapons while on duty. Why was the article so unsure? Shouldn't a competent journalist seek out those certainties prior to publication? I am underwhelmed.

[Chris]

Rival factions of the LASD, if you think these guys don't take their hoods into the department you had better think again.

[Glo]

To Lou-

You're an idiot! Race wasn't specified in the article. Always have to make it
a race thing.

[MJH]

It's good to see them kicking each others a$$ for a change. Rather than innocent civilians.

[BGZ]

Suspended with pay... meh.

[Resident since 1965]

Typical, sheriff who work in jails are not the brightest group in the bunch. Ever met a smart cop?? There is a reason 75% of these guys become cops......these are not the smartest tools in the shed.

[DLH]

So a bunch of Deputies got into a brawl over something stupid probably. Maybe one of them tried to hit on another guy girlfriend or wife I guess. It might be some openings on the Sheriffs Dept. Get your applications ready.

[De Las Vegas]

Yes, yes, there should be due process. First file felony charges, put them in MCJ pending PH and trial, then send them to prison. I look forward to seeing the booking photos to see if my suspicion is correct that this is the outcome of diversity hiring practices.

[phoenixandrew]

Stuff like that and the shooting death of that Long Beach guy holding a water nozzle is what causes me to lose respect for cops in general.

[Emerson]

Does anyone else remember Joseph Wambaugh's "The Choirboys"? Since when did Roscoe Rules go to work at the Men's Central Jail?

[MrMarty]

What weren't they arrested?

[John]

Stupid, aggressive juvenile behavior is just the tip of the iceberg as far as police corruption is concerned. There are far more criminals with a badge then the general public is aware of. Just check out the high numbers of pedophiles, sex offenders, thieves, wife beaters, and other assorted degenerates with a badge at the only site tracking police abuse---INJUSTICE EVERYWHERE .com. What is disturbing is that not much is being done about this problem. Clearly, cops can NOT be trusted to police themselves!

[Joe]

Ok, as a local law enforcement officer who has worked alongside the LASO, I can tell you this is not news. These guys are gangsters with badges, and in the mens central jail most of them idiots are taking anabolics. These thugs have been given a blind eye for some time now and maybe its time somebody stop this inappropriate behavior.

[Joe]

Hmmmmmmm!
Sad state of affairs!

[Proud]

Many ignorant comments on here, as usual. Our military lets gangsters serve with their motive only to be trained with our weapons. Does this mean we bash all military personnel? No!
Meaning, all agencies, companies, etc. have a bad handful of people that get through. This doesn't mean all 15,000 LASD employees are idiots like these punks. Yes, they should have time off without pay and in my opinion, if all 7 are found to have been aggressors, then terminate them. If they have no self control, they have no business being armed in tense situations.
However, 99% of the police I know, would give their lives to protect innocent people, even though a few punks give them a bad name. Shame on these guys! period.
And yes, I've seen plenty of fights of joe blow citizens and nobody is taken to jail unless you want to press charges on one another, which normally doesn't happen. Enough with the stupid posts about going to jail and cover ups. This was simply a fight, not damaging public property, etc. Just poor decisions of idiots that shouldn't carry guns nor give the good ones a bad name.

[Fedupwithmorons]

Some of you people are so clueless! Try going to the Office of Independent Reviews website and read their quarterly and annual reports! They are full of incidents like this and worse! This conduct is a direct result of Affirmative Action, the ACLU and dumbed down hiring and training standards! This was by no means any type of isolated incident!

To the writer that stated Baca and Steve Cooley are at the root of problems like this, hit the nail on the head. They are politians and nothing more. Remove them from office and get the competent people in there. As it stands, it is a case of the inmates running the asylum and the Peter Principle!

[Fedupwithmorons]

Let's hope these 7 deputies are still on probation, make a clean sweep of these bums! If not? Force them to resign in lieu of termination!

[Fedupwithmorons]

The Sheriffs dept has a policy about not carrying weapons if a deputy goes out partying! Duh!

[Fedupwithmorons]

The public should demand that all applicants for law enforcement jobs should have minimally, a four year degree!