A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy and his wife have reached a tentative settlement with the City of Los Angeles over a 2020 traffic stop in Sun Valley that the couple says ended with roughly eight LAPD officers pointing guns at the off-duty deputy and ordering him to lie on the ground in the street. The deal, if finalized, would close out more than five years of litigation stemming from the April 24, 2020 encounter.
According to MyNewsLA.com, attorneys for Tavin Padilla, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy, and his wife, Edith Padilla, notified Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Beaudet of the conditional settlement on October 12. The lawsuit, filed in March 2021, accused the City of Los Angeles and two individual officers of unlawful seizure, excessive force, false imprisonment and battery, with Edith Padilla separately alleging loss of consortium. The City of Los Angeles and the two officers had denied the allegations, maintaining that Tavin Padilla's detention — including holding him at gunpoint — was lawful and reasonable given the totality of the circumstances.
What Happened That Night in Sun Valley
Per plaintiffs' attorneys, Tavin and Edith Padilla were driving separate private cars in Sun Valley, in the San Fernando Valley, headed to an auto repair shop to drop off Edith's vehicle on April 24, 2020, when LAPD officers pulled Tavin Padilla over. He identified himself as an off-duty deputy and offered to show his badge, and told officers he had a gun securely stored in his car, with the firearm mounted near his right knee.
Instead of resolving the stop, officers called for backup and reinforcements. The deputy was ordered out of his car and told to lie on the ground before being handcuffed — an order his attorneys described in court papers as being told to lie “like a plane in the middle of the street.” An LAPD officer eventually removed Padilla's LASD badge from a pocket, and a sergeant at the scene said the handcuffs could come off once the badge was found. One of the original two officers at the scene acknowledged that Padilla had fully complied with their orders throughout.
Allegations of Inter-Agency Rivalry
Per court papers, the Padillas' attorneys said roughly eight police officers pointed guns at Tavin Padilla, and that aerial support along with numerous additional armed officers were called to the scene before he was released. The deputy's lawyers argued the show of force reflected inter-agency rivalry between LAPD and LASD, which they said led LAPD officers to exert unnecessary dominance over Padilla — a claim the city disputed as it defended the officers' response given the presence of a firearm near the driver's seat, as detailed in reporting from MyNewsLA.com.
State law includes an exemption for peace officers from laws prohibiting concealed carry, potentially allowing an off-duty deputy to carry a handgun in his own vehicle.
Department Policy on Force and Pretextual Stops
LAPD's own use-of-force policy, revised under California Senate Bill 230 guidelines, directs officers to rely on de-escalation, time, distance and communication before pointing weapons or using force whenever feasible, according to LAPD Online. Separately, LAPD Special Order No. 2022-240.06, issued in March 2022, strictly limits officers' use of pretextual traffic stops unless there is articulable evidence a stop promotes public safety or investigates a violent crime — though that order postdates the 2020 stop at the center of this case.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and LAPD regularly run joint enforcement operations across the county, including a multi-agency Organized Retail Crime Task Force established in late 2023 and coordinated street takeover sweeps this year, a pattern of routine collaboration that stands in contrast to the rivalry described in the Padillas' court filings. High-intensity traffic stops have also continued to surface in the same stretch of the San Fernando Valley; in April, an LAPD officer in Sun Valley fired a weapon and killed a dog during a stop that led to the recovery of a firearm and an explosive device.
Why the Settlement Isn't Final Yet
Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, and the deal still requires final approval from the city's Claims Board. The Padillas' attorneys are expected to file a request for dismissal by April 12, 2027, once that administrative review is complete.
The case has continued to work through the courts in the years since the traffic stop.
