KTLA

Sheriff’s Department Misconduct-Claim Payouts Have Soared in L.A. County, Topping $50M Last Year

In one case, Los Angeles County paid more than $6 million to a woman who had been raped by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Alfredo Montalvo in 2009 after a brief car chase in Lynwood. The county paid Montalvo’s family $8.85 million to settle a lawsuit over the killing. (Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

In another, it took more than $7 million to resolve multiple lawsuits after deputies in West Hollywood mistakenly shot two hostages, killing one and seriously wounding the other.

Those payouts from 2016 helped drive a dramatic increase in the cost of resolving legal claims against the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department during the last five years, according to records reviewed by The Times.

The county’s annual payouts have jumped from $5.6 million to nearly $51 million over that time.

Read the full story at LATimes.com.

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