“Eighteen freaking days?!”
That was Maria Velasquez’s response when she learned that the LAPD bomb squad that accidentally destroyed her home in 2021 had gotten off with a seemingly lenient punishmentfrom the department.
Velasquez told the Los Angeles Times that she had to stay in a hotel for three years following a botched firework detonation in 2021 that destroyed 22 homes in the city and injured 17. While she received a settlement from the city, she told the paper that some of that money has been spent on apartment rental fees as pending permit approvals have kept her from rebuilding.
The LAPD conducted an internal investigation but never revealed how the officers involved in the mistake were punished. A hacking group targeting the city attorney’s office found documents detailing the investigation and dumped the paperwork online, revealing the harshest punishment was an 18-day suspension without pay for the highest-ranking officer at the incident site, Detective Damien Levesque, the LA Times reports.
Two other bomb squad technicians, Stefanie Alcocer and Mell Hogg, were suspended for 10 days. All three were eventually transferred off the bomb squad.
The LA Times spoke to an LAPD source familiar with the case and confirmed that the leaked documents were legitimate.
The Independent has requested comment from the LAPD.
The 2021 explosion — which happened on 700 block of East 27th Street — not only damaged or destroyed 22 residential properties, 13 businesses, and 37 vehicles, but it also left 17 people injured, including six civilians and 10 LAPD officers and one ATF agent.
The investigation determined that bomb squad members had significantly misjudged the size of the blast that would result from detonating the fireworks. The LAPD ruled that Levesque was “deficient in his supervisory duties” by failing to check the technicians’ math, the LA Times reports. It also accused him of walking away from safety discussions which “contributed to an excessive quantity of explosive material being detonated,” the outlet added.
Residents affected by the blast have long called for those responsible to be fired, according to the report. Upon learning of the punishments mentioned in report, some were furious.
“Whatever money they lost out on these [suspensions], they more than made up for with their raises,” Ron Gochez, a member of the Union del Barrio neighborhood advocacy group, told the LA Times.
Several officers involved in the incident were later promoted, the outlet reports.
The 10-day suspensions given to Hogg and Alcocer are what an officer might face for lesser infractions, the report says.
An officer in the force received a 10-day suspension for failing to disclose a relationship with a subordinate and for using a department database for non-work purposes, the LA Times reports.
One bomb squad officer, Brendan McCarty, was given a 5-day suspension even though he tried to warn his colleagues about the danger of the planned detonation, according to the leaked documents.
Officials concluded that McCarty, the most senior technician on the scene, should have been more persistent in his objections, the LA Times reports.
Arturo Ceja III, the 26-year-old who bought the illegal fireworks, ultimately pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of unlicensed transportation of explosives from Nevada to California.
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