Body-cam reveals officer lied about traffic stop in DUI case, California officials say

A 15-year veteran police officer in California was found guilty of lying during a 2019 DUI investigation, a court found.

A jury found 50-year-old Los Angeles police officer Alejandro Castillo guilty of one felony count each of filing a false report and of perjury, according to a March 20 news release. He faces up to four years and eight months in state prison and has been “assigned home” during an administrative investigation, according to police.

Castillo was assigned to the West Traffic Division during the arrest on Oct. 18, 2019, when he said he stopped a man driving in Hollywood for making an unsafe left turn into oncoming traffic and nearly causing a car wreck, prosecutors said.

Castillo gave the driver a sobriety test and arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence, which he later wrote in a police report, the release said.

However, video from his body-worn camera showed the driver had waited for all cars to pass before making the turn, prosecutors said.

DUI charges were never filed against the driver, and the Los Angeles city attorney raised concerns about the officer’s body-camera footage, the Los Angeles Times reported. Castillo was arrested in July 2021.

His sentencing is scheduled for May 12.

“When an officer lies in the course of their investigation it can have devastating consequences including wrongful incarceration and sometimes wrongful convictions,” District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement. “We cannot have the people we entrusted to take away a person’s liberty lying in their official capacity.”

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