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Lax to union station1/7/2024 ![]() ![]() In connection with the civil lawsuit, Zabala was deposed three times in 20 and asked to describe his tattoo. It was the 2013 shooting that brought Zabala’s ink to the fore. Prosecutors also deemed that shooting justified, though in 2018 a civil lawsuit on behalf of the Martinez family ended with a hefty $2.5 million settlement. The year after that, Zabala was involved in the killing of Johnny Martinez, a 28-year-old man with schizophrenia who was shot 36 times by deputies outside his Vermont Knolls home. Though he created a new office to do that, the department has not yet settled on a policy banning gangs or gang tattoos. The groups are known by monikers such as the Executioners, the Vikings and the Regulators, and their members often bear the same sequentially numbered tattoos.ĭuring his swearing-in ceremony nearly a year ago, Sheriff Robert Luna spoke of the need to “eliminate deputy gangs” from the department. “It isn’t the sheriff that runs the department - it’s the unions.”įor decades, the Sheriff’s Department has been plagued by gangs of deputies running roughshod over certain stations and floors of the jail. Still, advocates - such as James Nelson, campaign and program manager for the community coalition Dignity and Power Now - worried Zabala’s election would not bode well for the department’s efforts to rein in deputy gangs and gang tattoos. Union president Richard Pippin defended Zabala in an emailed statement Thursday, calling him a “family oriented guy with a big heart” who has dedicated his life to helping others. This week he did not respond to a request for comment. Zabala has previously denied being part of the group, saying that the number simply meant he was the 140th person to get that same design, and describing the tattoo as a proud mark of camaraderie among fellow deputies. He called the stark combination of imagery a “station tattoo,” but others described it as the symbol of a deputy gang known as the Regulators. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs board member Jason Zabala previously described his tattoo under oath, saying it depicted a skeleton in a cowboy hat with a smoking rifle and the number 140. A union representing Los Angeles County sheriff deputies recently elected to its board of directors a veteran lawman who has a controversial tattoo and was involved in two fatal shootings that cost the county $4 million in legal payouts, sparking concern among oversight officials and justice advocates. ![]()
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