George Gascón,
District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles
ggascon@da.lacounty.gov

Alisa Blair,
Special Advisor to the District Attorney 
ablair@da.lacounty.gov

Marlene Sanchez,
Deputy District Attorney 
msanchez@da.lacounty.gov

211 W. Temple Street, Suite 1200
Los Angeles, California 90012

Re: People of the State of California v. Isaias Cervantes, Case No. BA499677

Dear Mr. Gascón, Ms. Blair and Ms. Sanchez:

As people with disabilities, family members of the disabled, disability justice organizations, advocates and allies, we write to stand with Isaias Cervantes, and to express our dismay at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office’s unconscionable decision to file criminal charges against him. We respectfully urge you to dismiss all charges with prejudice against Isaias Cervantes.

On March 31, 2021, a Los Angeles County Sherriff’s deputy shot Isaias Cervantes, a 25-year-old, unarmed, deaf, autistic man with no criminal history, in the back on his own living room floor. The shooting left Isaias in critical condition with a permanent spinal cord injury from which he will never fully recover.

This shooting was neither a tragedy nor an accident.  It was an act of deliberate violence. The Sheriff’s deputies came to the Cervantes home in response to a call from Isaias's sister for assistance with a mental health concern.  Video of the incident shows that at the time the deputies approached him, Isaias was sitting calmly inside his home. Even after Isaias’s family and therapist told deputies that Isaias was disabled and posed no threat, the deputies rapidly escalated to the use of physical force. The larger deputy kneeled on Isaias’s thin body and shot him in the back.

Nearly seven months after the shooting, in an act of clear intimidation and retribution, the Sheriff’s office asked the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to file criminal charges against Isaias, including one count of assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer, and two counts of resisting arrest with force. The charges were filed more than two months after Isaias and his family filed a civil lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department.  These charges are more than unjust.  They are a shameful betrayal of the public's trust.

The actions of the Sheriff’s Department, compounded by the District Attorney's criminal charges, cannot be allowed to stand.  The violence Isaias experienced is fueled by a law enforcement culture that routinely dehumanizes those with intellectual, mental, and physical disabilities.1 It realizes a fear – played out with alarming frequency – that millions of disabled, Black, Brown, and Indigenous people live with every day.

We, the undersigned, join in solidarity with Isaias, his loved ones, and the countless other disabled people needlessly harmed or killed by law enforcement. We call for community-based alternatives centered on the diverse needs of disabled people and people of color, instead of dehumanizing them.

Above all, we stand with the Cervantes family and call on the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to drop these disgraceful charges. We join their demand for justice for Isaias.

Sincerely,

Kim C. Sinclair, Executive Director, Autism Society of Los Angeles

Diana Pastora Carson, CEO, Beyond Awareness

Aja McKee, Ph.D., President, CAL-TASH

Mark N. Melanson, Executive Director, California Community Living Network

Christina Mills, Executive Director, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers

Katherine A. Pérez, Director, The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy & Innovation – Loyola Law School

Andrew J. Imparato, Executive Director, Disability Rights California

Claudia Center, Legal Director, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

Judy Mark, President, Disability Voices United

Suzanne Bennett Francisco, President and CEO, Exceptional Rights Advocacy

Elizabeth Gomez, Director, Integrated Community Collaborative

Leroy F. Moore, Jr., Co-Founder, Krip-Hop Nation

Beth Gallagher, CEO, Life Works SLS

Carole Watilo, Executive Director, Progressive Employment Concepts

Beth Ribet, PhD, JD, Director, Repair

Dominique Burrell-Paige, Ph.D., Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Strategic Initiatives, Special Needs Network, Inc.

Jacquie Foss, Executive Director, Strategies to Empower People, Inc.

Valerie Vanaman, Founder and Managing Partner, Vanaman German LLP

Summer Lacey, Criminal Justice Director, ACLU SoCal

Patricia Hughes, CEO, Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, Inc.

• 1. The Ruderman Family Foundation, White Paper on Media Coverage of Law Enforcement Use of Force and Disability. https://rudermanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MediaStudy-PoliceDisability_final-final.pdf