LAPD Captain Allegedly Deleted Critical Texts Meant For Evidence In Black Lives Matter Lawsuit

The allegations have sowed further distrust in the city over the handling of the evidence.

A judge over an excessive force lawsuit against the LAPD believes one captain deleted text messages critical to the case.

The lawsuit was filed over the LAPD’s response to a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. According to the Los Angeles Times, the police unit allegedly used excessive force to quell the protest, as video footage also showed officers using their batons to beat down the demonstrators. Activists from Black Lives Matter Los Angeles proceeded to take legal action over the issue in 2022.

Additional bodycam footage, delivered to the court by the plaintiff’s legal team, also showed officers sending out text messages, allegedly proving their plans to aggressively handle the protestors. However, screenshots of what these messages said never made it to the courtroom.

Now, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has determined that a LAPD captain, Warner Castillo must have destroyed the crucial evidence detailing these texts. Judge Theresa M. Traber sided with the activists in a ruling made in October, sanctioning the city over the issue.

The judge further stated that Castillo probably triggered a “factory reset” on his phone to ensure the texts’ erasure after the plaintiffs signaled their plan to use the messages. The judge also proposed that Castillo went so far as to delete backups of the texts located in his iCloud account.

The city had asked for the judge to reconsider the ruling, arguing that they did indeed turn in all relevant texts and other documents crucial to the lawsuit. Despite their urges, Traber reaffirmed her belief in the “extremely grave” allegations against Castillo. She noted that his initial defense of texting his family, with the lack of backups stemming from his wife gifting the family new phones for a holiday, fell flat.

However, the city has turned over other texts in their mission to prove they were not hiding evidence, now prompting Traber to put these messages into account. On the other hand, the plaintiff’s legal team claims the city had originally claimed that they turned in all evidence, further compromising their integrity in the case, as well as public trust in the LAPD.

“The public has to be able to have confidence that the police are doing their jobs appropriately, and that’s been shaken in a big way recently,” stated one of the activists’ attorneys, John Washington.

The city will turn in nearly a thousand additional texts reportedly pertinent to the case. However, what evidence used from officers’ personal cell phones remains an issue as the case nears trial, especially if considered public records and key evidence of motives.

A trial remains on schedule to begin later this year or at the start of 2027.