LOS ANGELES — As promised, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva defied a subpoena to appear at the May 21 meeting of the county Civilian Oversight Commission, prompting the panel’s vote to challenge that move in court.
As promised by the sheriff, his department was represented at the meeting by Assistant Sheriff Bruce Chase, who Villanueva said “volunteered his time to go and testify to the commission and give them an update on all the COVID-19 efforts we are engaged in.”
After the last meeting, Brian K. Williams, executive director of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, said the sheriff’s absence was a rebuke to more than the commissioners.
But on March 3rd, after witnessing two years of failed promises, voters overwhelmingly supported Measure R which allows the Civilian Oversight Commission to demand transparency and oversight over the morally bankrupt sheriff’s department,” said Mariela Alburges of Reform LA Jails.
“Let’s be clear, a subpoena could have been avoided if Sheriff Villanueva voluntarily attended commission meetings to clarify glaring gaps and dangerous inconsistencies in the COVID-19 response in the jails,” Cullors said in a statement released after the meeting.
