{"id":31871,"date":"2026-08-08T04:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31871"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:05:22","slug":"d-a-faces-backlash-for-charging-lapd-officer-who-reported-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31871","title":{"rendered":"D.A. faces backlash for charging LAPD officer who reported racism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d3dade5\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/3000x2000+0+0\/resize\/1500x1000!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F27%2Fc8%2F412250754e1f83aba97178943614%2F1565764-me-hate-crime-prosecutions-alc-276.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>In the days since he charged a Los Angeles police officer with a crime for capturing evidence of his co-workers\u2019 racist remarks, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman has been the subject of withering criticism from Mayor Karen Bass, former cops and even some of his own prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>The chorus of voices decrying the filing of <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-07-31\/lapd-officer-felony-eavesdropping-charge\">16 counts of felony eavesdropping against Officer Daniel Flores<\/a> \u2014 who caught fellow officers on tape using slurs and making derogatory remarks about Asians, Mexicans, Black people and women in the LAPD\u2019s Training Division in 2024 \u2014 say the charges will dissuade other officers from reporting corruption and raise questions about Hochman\u2019s commitment to police accountability. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bottom line is that the alleged racist, sexist, and homophobic comments made are outrageous and unacceptable,\u201d Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement to The Times on Tuesday. \u201cWhile I understand that it is inappropriate and a crime to record colleagues without their consent, those charges certainly send the wrong message that calling out egregious behavior could land you in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Six L.A. County prosecutors \u2014 all speaking on  condition of anonymity in order to discuss the case candidly \u2014 also said in recent days they were shocked by Hochman\u2019s decision to charge Flores.<\/p>\n<p>One referred to the filing as \u201cinsane,\u201d while another suggested Flores\u2019 case should have been dismissed in the interest of justice.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the district attorney\u2019s office made public a 27-page motion asking for a lengthy preliminary hearing in the case. The filing alleged Flores deceptively edited the recordings to hide his own insensitive remarks. Several of the officers whom Flores taped said he often talked about wanting to win the \u201cLAPD lottery,\u201d meaning he intended to sue the department and retire on his winnings, according to the motion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Flores] often starts the recordings in mid-conversation,\u201d the district attorney said in an interview Friday. \u201cMany people talk about the fact that he initiated some of these discussions, that he participated in some of these discussions. You\u2019ll hear references to comments he made. Usually he has edited out his comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The motion \u2014 which relies heavily on representations made by the officers whose comments Flores exposed \u2014 alleges Flores \u201cmanipulated conversations by initiating or participating in discussions about a particular topic before activating the recording device, then ceasing his own participation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hochman said the recordings contain evidence that Flores made sexist remarks and referred to a group of people as \u201cf\u2014 Crips.\u201d It was not clear how referencing the infamous L.A. gang was, on its own, racist. <\/p>\n<p>Flores\u2019 attorney, Alan Jackson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Flores is due in court for an arraignment on  Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Some of Hochman\u2019s own prosecutors said the charges look bad considering the district attorney\u2019s suspect record in police accountability cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOptics are terrible,\u201d one prosecutor said, questioning whether Hochman was pressured to act by police unions, which made heavy contributions to his 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Since taking office, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-02-13\/nathan-hochman-la-county-da-law-enforcement-charges\">Hochman has moved to dismiss a number of violent use-of-force cases<\/a> against police and resolved others with lenient plea deals. He also either dismissed charges or offered no-jail plea deals to four  former Torrance police officers who had been accused of crimes after they were implicated in the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-08-25\/torrance-police-officers-racist-new-texts\">department\u2019s infamous racist text scandal.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>One prosecutor also said the Flores case is unwinnable and will certainly fail before a jury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust because a law is broken doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you are going to get 12 jurors in L.A. to convict,\u201d the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n<p>Flores turned over 122 recordings of his colleagues\u2019 commentary to the LAPD Office of the Inspector General early last year, according to the motion filed Friday. An amended criminal complaint submitted in late July suggested the recordings were then used as evidence against Flores by LAPD officials who sought to punish him.<\/p>\n<p>Flores has said he heard co-workers refer to Black people as \u201cmonkeys\u201d who like grape soda and eat watermelon between basketball games, according to a retaliation lawsuit he filed last year. The suit claims Flores also heard colleagues call female officers \u201cbitches\u201d who couldn\u2019t be trusted and alleged a supervisor said Mexican L.A. Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela died of septic shock because he \u201cate too many\u201d tacos.<\/p>\n<p>In the motion made public Friday, Hochman argued that Flores made the recordings, in part, to support his civil suit. Several of the officers quoted in the motion said Flores said he had anxiety about wearing a police uniform or going on patrol and wanted to retire to become a \u201cstay at home Dad,\u201d according to the motion.<\/p>\n<p>The motion also provided more information about the alleged insensitive discussions than has been previously reported. One of the officers recorded by Flores admitted to describing a potential LAPD recruit as \u201crapeable\u201d because they were \u201csomeone who could be taken advantage of,\u201d according to the motion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of the phrase \u2018rape\u2019 was not in a sexual context,\u201d the motion read.<\/p>\n<p>The officers also suggested in the D.A.\u2019s motion Flores was a habitual liar. He became embarrassed after he was caught fabricating or embellishing stories about playing college baseball, responding to protest scenes and an award he won in the police academy, according to the motion.<\/p>\n<p>The motion said that an internal affairs sergeant found many of the allegations Flores made concerning officers in the recruitment unit improperly disqualifying candidates based on appearance and falsifying time sheets were not supported by evidence.<\/p>\n<p>When he announced the charges last week, Hochman said that while the comments captured by Flores were deplorable, he couldn\u2019t turn a blind eye to a blatant violation of the state\u2019s two-party consent recording statute. With few exceptions, it is a crime in California to record a conversation without the consent of all parties involved.<\/p>\n<p>Hochman said Friday that Flores is not protected by whistleblower laws because, although the recordings exposed bigoted speech, they did not prove evidence of a crime by any of the other officers. He also said the comments were not hateful in nature. At multiple points, the motion refers to the comments as \u201clocker room\u201d talk.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the officers told investigators they made the crude comments \u201cin a sort of joking, sort of locker room banter context. In hindsight these things are insensitive \u2026 but you\u2019ll have for instance a Black individual making comments about Blacks,\u201d Hochman said. \u201cYou\u2019ll have an Asian individual making insensitive stereotypical comments about Asians.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Hochman  said the prosecution was meant to deter rogue police actions rather than silence whistleblowers. He likened what Flores did to a detective using illegal means to record a drug dealer or gang member. <\/p>\n<p>Hochman said Flores should have reported his colleagues\u2019 misconduct to internal affairs or the LAPD\u2019s inspector general. But California Department of Justice records show there were 4,878 allegations of racial bias made against LAPD officers in the last decade, and the department <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-07-24\/lapd-racial-bias-traffic-stop-complaints-officer-fired\">upheld only three of those complaints.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Presented with those statistics at a news conference Thursday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell did not respond directly to a question about how Flores could possibly have faith in an internal probe. McDonnell said Flores\u2019 complaint triggered an investigation into 18 other officers, all but one of  whom faced sustained disciplinary complaints. <\/p>\n<p>He declined to say what sanctions the officers faced. An LAPD spokesperson declined to elaborate. <\/p>\n<p>The district attorney\u2019s office has been less aggressive in prosecuting those who made surreptitious recordings in the past.<\/p>\n<p>When asked to pursue charges against those who secretly recorded several City Council members making racist remarks during a meeting at the L.A. County Federation of Labor\u2019s headquarters, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2024-05-10\/prosecutors-racist-city-hall-recording-crime\">the district attorney\u2019s office found a crime had been committed<\/a> but referred the case to the L.A. city attorney\u2019s office for misdemeanor filing in 2024. Ultimately, no charges were filed. <\/p>\n<p>Last year, the D.A.\u2019s office opted not to bring charges in a different case involving an LAPD officer in possession of a secret recording.<\/p>\n<p>In that case, the ex-girlfriend of Brandon Tilford provided the department with an audio recording he had texted her in January 2024, according to a rejection memo by prosecutors. In the recording, an unidentified police officer is heard saying, \u201cOfficer walks through processing and goes, man, this is f\u2014 Planet of the Apes in here\u201d in an apparent reference to Black inmates. Tilford texted his former girlfriend, \u201cThat\u2019s my sgt btw lol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges because the girlfriend couldn\u2019t identify the officers in the recording or say who made it. Thus, prosecutors reasoned that they could not prove Tilford created the recording and did so without the others\u2019 knowledge. <\/p>\n<p>Retired LAPD Cmdr. Lillian Carranza said she understood why Flores \u201cmight feel compelled to gather evidence to substantiate serious allegations,\u201d given how the department has handled past whistleblower cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, the difficult question is not whether evidence should be gathered, but where the line should be drawn,\u201d said Carranza, a 36-year department veteran who successfully sued the city several times for misogyny and sexual harassment. \u201cGathering evidence over days or even weeks to document ongoing misconduct is one thing. Doing so over many months raises different legal and ethical questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hochman said the sheer volume of recordings, and the fact that Flores is a sworn law enforcement officer, played a role in the decision to file felony charges.<\/p>\n<p>The union that represents front-line public defenders also seized on the controversy, saying in a statement that Hochman\u2019s decision sent a clear message to others who may want to report wrongdoing: \u201ckeep quiet, or you will be the one facing trial.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The department has long had a policy that forbids retaliation against officers who report misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>But in practice, LAPD insiders say, those who come forward with compromising information get little support. The department is facing scores of lawsuits by officers who claim they faced retaliation after speaking out in the form of poor job evaluations, harassment, demotions and even termination. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the days since he charged a Los Angeles police officer with a crime for capturing evidence of his co-workers\u2019 racist remarks, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman has been the subject of withering criticism from Mayor Karen Bass, former cops and even some of his own prosecutors. The chorus of voices decrying the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/a35253b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x1575+0+213\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F27%2Fc8%2F412250754e1f83aba97178943614%2F1565764-me-hate-crime-prosecutions-alc-276.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}