Sheriffs Plead Guilty to “Assaulting and Battering” a Firefighter
On April 23, two deputies from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office plead guilty to beating a San Dimas firefighter. All three men were off-duty at the time of the attack. One of the deputies plead guilty to California misdemeanor assault under Penal Code 240, the other to California misdemeanor battery under Penal Code 242. The firefighter underwent several weeks of medical treatment for his injuries that were sustained when he was beaten and kicked by his assailants.
The details of the attack weren’t reported, although it can be assumed that the firefighter wasn’t fighting a fire or otherwise engaged in the “performance of his duties” based on the fact that the Sherriff deputies were only charged with misdemeanors. Even though he was “off-duty”, if he had been in the act of trying to either save someone/something or fight a fire, the deputies would have most likely faced felony counts of assault and battery.
This is because firefighters, peace officers, doctors, nurses and a host of others receive special protection under California Penal Code sections 243 (b) and (c) when they are (1) engaged in the performance of their duties…whether on or off-duty, and (2) their assailant(s) knew or should have known that they were engaged in the performance of those duties.
If the fireman fit into that category, the deputies would have faced up to four years in the California State Prison and a possible “strike” on their records under Three Strikes Law, depending on how severely the firefighter was injured. As it was, both men were assigned community service and one of the deputies was additionally ordered to attend a year’s worth of AA meetings. Both deputies were relieved of duty without pay and are pending investigations to determine their final status within the department.
