One of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s top aides settled a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Azusa Police Department this week, following his arrest there on suspicion of public intoxication.
While the terms of the settlement between the department and Joseph Iniguez, who serves as Gascón’s chief of staff, were not immediately made public, court records show a notice of settlement was entered on Wednesday.
Iniguez was arrested by Asuza Police in December 2021 after officers pulled over his then-fiancee for making an illegal U-Turn in the 900 block of East Alosta Ave., records show. The arresting officer said he was trying to investigate whether or not Iniguez’s partner was driving impaired, but then accused Iniguez of repeatedly interfering with him, according to police reports made public last year.
The officer said Iniguez was combative, slurring his words, and had “bloodshot” eyes, according to those reports.
The couple, now married, were returning from another prosecutor’s wedding, and police ultimately found that Iniguez’s fiance’s blood-alcohol content was below the legal limit. Iniguez was initially arrested for public intoxication, but jail records show he was held under a statute that allows police to detain a person suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol when there are insufficient grounds for criminal charges. Jail records say police determined “no further proceedings are desirable.”
When news of his detention became public, Iniguez said he was wrongfully arrested as retaliation for filming the encounter. He has never offered any proof of that claim or released the video that he recorded on his phone. He filed the federal lawsuit a few weeks later, alleging through his attorney, Glen Jonas, that he was “lucid, calm, responsive and communicative” on the night of the incident.
A criminal case against Iniguez was ultimately referred to the California attorney general’s office, but state prosecutors never pursued any charges against him, and the statute of limitations on any possible misdemeanor conduct ran out last December.
An Azusa police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. In a statement, Iniguez called the settlement a victory for police accountability.
“Bad policing is a scourge on our community and must be called out,” he said. “While I took this action to hold them accountable, many people with less knowledge of the system have bad experiences with police that impacts their trust for some of our most important public servants.”
Iniguez said he plans to donate the entirety of the settlement amount to the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit group of current and former police officers, prosecutors, and judges who advocate for criminal justice reform.
He declined to discuss the settlement amount on advice of his attorney. Asked why he has not made video of the incident public, Iniguez said the camera was focused on his partner and he did not “feel comfortable publicly releasing footage of him being harassed and unfairly arrested by police.” Police detained Iniguez’s partner during the stop, but he was not placed under arrest or charged with any crime.
Iniguez’s arrest and the subsequent lawsuit drew the ire of many of Gascón’s critics, who have long expressed frustration that the young prosecutor lacks the experience necessary for the chief of staff position. Iniguez ran for district attorney in 2020, but dropped out and joined Gascón’s campaign.
After Gascón’s election, Iniguez was named the office’s interim chief deputy, effectively making him the second most powerful lawyer in the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office despite his minimal trial experience.
Asst. Dist. Atty. Vicki Adams, who previously held Iniguez’s post as chief of staff, has also sued the office over her demotion, claiming she was bumped for Gascón’s political ally after she criticized some of the progressive prosecutor’s policies.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
