Villanueva conceded that procedural errors were made in the internal investigation of an altercation in which a deputy knelt on a handcuffed inmate's head for three minutes.
Eli Vera, a sheriff's commander who is running against Villanueva in the upcoming election, told The Times the sheriff viewed the video of the altercation days after it occurred.
The sheriff said such an internal criminal investigation should have been started immediately, concurrent with an administrative probe, but it didn't happen. "So this case lingered through the administrative process, but along the way, many people, including senior executives in my administration saw this. And what concerns me is they actually saw the information and they did not hit the stop button and say, `Hey, we have to take a look at this in a different light and the right light, and do both a criminal and administrative investigation.' That did not happen.
He said he ordered the criminal investigation, which has since been referred to the District Attorney's Office for consideration of possible charges.
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