San Gabriel family claims deputies illegally entered their home, cuffed siblings

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said deputies were responding to a call of someone screaming and being hit, but a San Gabriel mother claims deputies entered her home without permission or warrant, then detained her teenage children when the kids argued with them.

Ceidy Cordova posted video on TikTok of parts of the Oct. 22 confrontation between deputies and her two children, who were 14 and 19 years old at the time. Recorded on cameras the family had placed in their living room and on the front door, the videos show deputies handcuffing the two siblings as the teens protest their presence inside the apartment and object to being detained. The videos have garnered millions of views.

“Everything they did was totally wrong,” Cordova said in an interview with The Times. “They took my son to jail for no reason, and they took my husband to jail for no reason.”

On Friday, the family filed a claim with Los Angeles County, a precursor to a lawsuit, saying deputies used excessive force and violated the family’s civil rights when they entered the apartment and detained the children. Their attorney also claims sheriff’s officials lied about walking through a door that had been left “ajar”; she said they opened an unlocked door, and the tense exchange followed.

“It’s an outrageous case,” said Narine Mkrtchyan, an attorney retained by Cordova.

In the videos posted online, Ceidy Cordova’s daughter, Alaiza Cordova, is seen arguing with three deputies in the family’s living room.

Cordova said her daughter had just come home from the gym and called her, telling her deputies were at the door. Cordova said she told her not to answer, and that she and her husband were on the way home.

Then her daughter called her back, saying deputies were already in the family’s living room.

“I was confused,” Cordova said. “I didn’t know what was happening.”

Cordova saw the confrontation between deputies and her daughter from the living room camera on her phone as it was taking place, and tried to speak through the camera’s speaker to get the deputies’ attention.

Deputies are seen holding her daughter’s hands behind her back as they bring her out of the apartment.

“I was having an anxiety attack,” Cordova said.

After the daughter is taken out of the apartment, two deputies are seen going into the unit’s rooms.

“I didn’t do anything,” her daughter is heard telling deputies in a second video while restrained.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said deputies were called to the 5100 block of Rosemead Boulevard in south San Gabriel on Oct. 22 after a caller reported someone arguing, screaming, and what sounded like someone being hit.

Deputies found a door ajar and announced their presence, but according to a statement, “the occupants were uncooperative and refused to comply.”

“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 read, referring to the deputies’ encounter with the 14-year-old.

“The claim that the door is ajar is blatantly false,” Mkrtchyan said. “We have video that shows that they were knocking on the door.”

Video provided to The Times shows deputies outside of the apartment moments before they walked inside, speaking to neighbors and asking if anyone was hurt or in need of help.

A deputy is then seen walking toward the Cordovas’ apartment and knocking on the door several times. The door is just outside the camera view and not visible in the video.

“Sheriff’s Department, is there anyone inside?” a deputy yells out before walking in. “Make yourself known.”

Cordova contends the door was shut but unlocked.

“They’re lying,” she said. “My daughter just forgot to lock it.”

Mkrtchyan argues the door was closed and deputies had no right to enter the home.

Mkrtchyan said that, despite department claims, Alaiza Cordova and her brother were not resisting deputies but asking why they were there.

Another video posted by Ceidy Cordova shows her 14-year-old son arguing with three deputies outside the home. A deputy then approaches and yanks a phone from his hand. Deputies then push him against the wall and restrain him.

Cordova said seeing the incident unfold on her phone caused her to panic.

“In that moment, you don’t see that it’s someone with authority there,” she said. “We just see people grabbing [our] children.”

In a statement, sheriff’s officials state the videos posted on social media don’t depict the entire sequence of events.

Deputies also arrested Ceidy Cordova’s husband, who, according to the statement, was seen driving past deputies and through a stop sign, with cellphone in hand.

“He was uncooperative, refused to provide his diver’s license and resisted a lawful order,” the sheriff’s statement read.

Another video provided by the family shows Cordova and her husband driving toward their home, past a stop sign, and stopping in front of a group of patrol cars and deputies.

“Do me a favor, I need your driver’s license,” a deputy tells her husband immediately after he rolls down the window.

“No sir,” Cordova’s husband responds. “I’m at a complete stop.”

“You’re actually going to step out of the vehicle now,” the deputy says before taking Cordova out of the car and handcuffing him.

According to the department, both the stepfather and the boy who was subjected to the use of force told deputies they were not injured during the incident.

But Mkrtchyan said the deputies’ actions were unnecessary, and alleged that Cordova’s children and husband were restrained in retaliation for questioning deputies’ actions.

“This is retaliation,” she said. “They realized they ran into the wrong apartment, but now they’re arresting these people after the fact to justify their entry.”