A former police officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for striking a homeless man with his baton roughly 45 times within a minute at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center in California, the Justice Department announced.
“These actions are unacceptable and are not tolerated at VA,” said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes in a statement to Task & Purpose. “We cooperated with the investigation every step of the way, immediately removed this officer from his position when the investigation began, and this police officer has now been fired. We will continue to take steps to ensure that all VA police officers — and all VA employees — are creating a safe and welcoming environment at all VA facilities, and we will hold them accountable when they fail to do so.”
Juan Anthony Carrillo, 46, pleaded guilty in July to one misdemeanor count of deprivation of rights for using excessive force, a Nov. 15 Justice Department news release says. Carrillo received the maximum possible penalty for the offense.
The incident took place on Jan. 16, 2022, at approximately 4 a.m. on the grounds of the VA clinic when Carrillo assisted another Veterans Affairs Police Department police officer, the news release says.
Carrillo hit a 34-year-old unarmed man identified in court records as “R.V.” with his VA-issued baton approximately 45 times in about 41 seconds, the news release says. For most — if not the entire altercation — the other VA police officer was on top of R.V.
“During the attack, there were moments where R.V. was subdued or even still,” according to a Nov.1 sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. “But because defendant’s strikes were relentless, averaging more than one strike per second, R.V. would start moving his legs again, away from the pain — all while defendant continued to beat R.V.’s legs. As a result, defendant, R.V., and [the other VA officer] made a 180-degree half circle on the ground.”
R.V. was 60 pounds lighter than Carrillo and 85 pounds lighter than the other officer, according to the Justice Department news release. He suffered a broken bone in his right foot among other injuries.
Prosecutors described R.V. as “unhoused and struggling with mental illness and a possible drug addiction,” according to the sentencing memorandum.
The VA has its own police department, which is tasked with protecting medical centers and other facilities operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Their primary role is to deter and investigate crimes that may have happened within the legal authority of the VA.
A Veterans Affairs Police Department lieutenant later determined that Carrillo’s use of force was not reasonable and violated department policy, rules and regulations, in part because R.V. was only offering “defensive resistance,” the sentencing memorandum says.
“This might be a far different case if defendant had ceased his strikes after the first ten, first fifteen, possibly even first twenty strikes,” the sentencing memorandum says. “But to continue beating another human being (who was curled on the floor pinned under the weight of another 250-pound officer, no less) — even as R.V. screamed in pain, even as back-up officers arrived, and even as R.V. laid perfectly still — is chilling behavior.”
In seeking a one-year prison term for Carrillo, prosecutors noted that he was forced to resign from the Los Angeles Police Department after a 2004 incident in which he was accused of groping a woman, threatening to shoot another woman, and punching the second woman in the mouth.
But in an Oct. 30 court filing, Carrillo’s attorney James R. Tedford II asked the judge to sentence his client to time served and supervised release, arguing that it took five VA police officers to subdue R.V., who later tested positive for Methamphetamines.
On the day of the altercation, R.V. was resisting arrest and had been struggling with another VA police officer for about a minute by the time Carrillo arrived at the scene, Tedford wrote.
The January 2022 altercation marked the second time that R.V. had clashed with VA police officers, Tedford wrote. In July 2021, R.V. got into a fight with several VA police officers after refusing verbal commands, Tedford wrote. Three VA police officers were injured in the earlier incident, including one who suffered an aneurysm.
As a result of the July 2021 fight, VA police officers had been instructed to use their batons in such situations instead of wrestling a suspect to the ground to avoid police officers getting injured, Tedford wrote.
Tedford also wrote that Carrillo is a Marine veteran who served as a military police officer for three years and presidential support specialist for another three years, during which he was a team leader with Marine Helicopter Squadron One which transports the president and cabinet members. After leaving active duty, Carrillo was involuntarily recalled to the Marines in March 2003 for six months to support U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now that he has entered a guilty plea, Carrillo has agreed to never work as a local, state, or federal police officer again, and he is not allowed to take a job that requires him to carry a firearm, Tedford wrote.
The latest on Task & Purpose
- Air Force captain becomes first woman in service history to receive Silver Star as crews honored for drone fight
- An Army general’s final ‘walk’ at the Tomb of the Unknowns
- ‘Last man out of Afghanistan,’ Gen. Christopher Donahue tapped for fourth star
- Navy sailor scales burning building to rescue 4 people
- How the Army’s cavalry scouts earn their spurs