Los Angeles County is poised to pay almost $2.7 million to a youngster whose violent beating at a juvenile corridor launched a sprawling legal investigation into so-called “gladiator fights” contained in the troubled facility.
Video of the , captured on CCTV, confirmed Jose Rivas Barillas, then 16, being pummeled by six juveniles at Los Padrinos Juvenile Corridor as probation officers stood idly by. Every youth attacked Rivas Barillas for a number of seconds earlier than returning to breakfast. Two officers, later recognized as longtime probation officers Taneha Brooks and Shawn Smyles, laughed and shook palms, encouraging the brawl.
“What made this distinctive is the video,” mentioned Rivas Barillas’ legal professional, Jamal Tooson, who mentioned his consumer suffered a damaged nostril and traumatic mind damage. “Your complete world obtained to witness the brutality that’s going down with our youngsters by the hands of the Los Angeles County Probation Division.”
The video, first reported by The Occasions, prompted a legal investigation by the state legal professional common’s workplace, which later charged — together with Brooks and Smyles — with permitting and inspiring fights amongst teenagers inside county juvenile halls. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta referred to the coordinated brawls as “gladiator fights” and mentioned his workplace’s CCTV overview had turned up 69 such fights throughout the after the corridor opened in July 2023.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will vote on whether or not to approve the $2.67-million settlement to Rivas Barillas and his mom, Heidi Barillas Lemus.
In keeping with a public of the “corrective motion plan” that the Probation Division should produce earlier than a big settlement, officers didn’t overview CCTV video of the battle and waited too lengthy to move the teenager to a hospital and notify his household.
CCTV screens at the moment are “staffed routinely,” and officers are engaged on conducting random audits of the recordings, in accordance with the plan. A spokesperson for the Probation Division didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Instantly after Rivas Barillas arrived on the Downey juvenile corridor, Brooks demanded to know his gang affiliation, in accordance with the declare filed with the county. Brooks mentioned she had heard that Rivas Barillas, who’s Latino, was from the “Canoga” gang and that she “hoped he may battle” earlier than directing the opposite juveniles, all of whom have been Black, to assault him within the day room, the declare said.
After the video made headlines, accounts of teenagers pressured by probation officers to battle have trickled out of Los Padrinos. A teen in March that officers at Los Padrinos rewarded him with a fast-food “bounty” — In-N-Out, Jack within the Field, McDonald’s — if he beat up children who misbehaved. {The teenager}, who had beforehand been housed in the identical unit as Rivas Barillas, mentioned staffers would additionally manage fights when somebody arrived who was regarded as affiliated with a gang that didn’t get together with the youths inside.
“We get a brand new child, he’s from the hood. Now we have different hoods in right here. We’re going to get all of the fights out of the way in which,” he mentioned on the time. “They have been simply setting it as much as management the state of affairs.”
One other teenager, recognized in courtroom filings as John (Lohjk) Doe, alleged in a lawsuit filed in February that quickly after arriving at Los Padrinos in 2024, he was escorted by an officer to the day room. The officer, recognized solely by the surname Santos, informed a youth contained in the day room that “you may have eleven (11) seconds” and watched because the youth attacked Doe, in accordance with the lawsuit.
On one other event, the identical officer threatened to pepper-spray Doe if he didn’t battle one other youth for 20 seconds. The kids who fought have been rewarded with further tv and extra day trip of their cells, the go well with alleged.
After the teenager informed a feminine officer in regards to the two coordinated brawls, he was transferred to solitary confinement, the go well with alleged.
Occasions workers author James Queally contributed to this report.
