A Los Angeles family claims sheriff's deputies illegally entered their home, harassed their teen children and then handcuffed them for no reason.
A Los Angeles family claims sheriff's deputies illegally entered their apartment and handcuffed their teenaged children while the parents weren't home.
Mother Ceidy Cordova said she was horrified as she watched her children being cuffed via home surveillance cameras. "Hello, is anybody listening to me?" she calls to the deputies as they are seen arguing with her 19-year-old daughter, according to video of the encounter.
Four Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies are seen surrounding the girl, and she is put in handcuffs, the video shows.
Cordova told Inside Edition she and her husband were out having breakfast when her daughter called in a panic, saying deputies were in their home.
As the confrontation grows heated, deputies are seen outside the apartment shoving the girl's 14-year-old brother against a wall and handcuffing him as well, according to the video.
"I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know if he could breathe. Why would he be treated like a criminal?" the mother told Inside Edition.
The sheriff's department said deputies were called to an apartment complex in San Gabriel on Oct. 22 after receiving a report of a loud argument and someone possibly being hit.
Deputies entered an apartment through a door left ajar and “the occupants were uncooperative and refused to comply,” the department said in a statement.“
"After several attempts to have the occupants of the residence exit the location to ascertain if anyone was injured inside, the deputies made entry and a use of force against a juvenile occurred,” the statement said, referring to the 14-year-old.
The Cordovas claim that is not true, and that the door was closed.
"We did nothing wrong and they all just wanted us out in handcuffs," said daughter Alaiza Cordova.
The family said they spent months trying to get answers from the sheriff's department, and then posted video of the encounter on TikTok, where it has been viewed more than 24 million times.
The family has retained an attorney and plans to sue the department, they said.
Lawyer Narine Mkrtchyan said the video shows, "this is out-of-control behavior" and that the deputies' behavior constituted "unlawful entry, unlawful detention, excessive force and false arrest."
A complaint was filed last week with the county, a precursor to filing a lawsuit, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The sheriff's department said its deputies acted appropriately after the apartment occupants refused to comply with deputies and were uncooperative.
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