Newly released video shows a top adviser to Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón being arrested in 2021 for interfering with police when his then-fiance was pulled over for a traffic violation on the way home from a wedding.
Los Angeles’ current No. 2 prosecutor, Joseph Iniguez, was sitting in the passenger seat when police pulled the couple over for a suspected traffic violation.
Iniguez, who was Gascón’s chief of staff at the time, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over the incident last year and received a $10,000 settlement from Azusa.
He was later promoted to Chief District Attorney.
Iniguez, recorded on cellphone video, can be heard telling officers, “You guys pulled over the wrong person.”
“This isn’t right,” he says.
“That’s why, when we talk about law enforcement and our interactions with law enforcement, he did the right thing tonight and drove me. We were at a wedding.”
Iniguez also asked officers to look at his license plate, which might reveal he worked for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
“Check the license plate and see what you can find,” he said. “Honestly, I’m not going to say anything. Just see what you can find.”
During the encounter, he also repeatedly urged his fiancee not to speak to officers.
“FST is completely voluntary and not required by law,” he shouted when officers attempted to question the driver.
FST stands for Field Sobriety Testing, which police use to assess the possibility of sobriety.
“If he has probable cause, he will be arrested,” Iniguez continued, “…He says he has probable cause to conduct a traffic stop, OK.”
California law, Government Code 26540, does not allow prosecutors to assist in the defense of any suspect.
“A district attorney shall not, during his or her term of office, defend, assist in the defense of, or act as counsel for any person charged with any crime in any county,” it states. Go to FindLaw.
After the fiancé was handcuffed, officers approached Iniguez and arrested him as well.
“You are now in a public place and you are intoxicated,” he says. “You are now under arrest. Turn around. Put your hands behind your back.”
Additional video shows Iniguez in the jail but does not include audio.
Another senior aide to Gascón, Diana Teran, is charged with 11 felony counts of improperly obtaining Brady materials from Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies.
Teran is accused of accessing a database on sheriff’s office deputies while on the job and taking that information to the district attorney’s office, working for Gascón, who was elected on an anti-police platform.
The California Attorney General’s Office said Gascón “improperly” used the illegally obtained data to assist the company.
Her lawyer, James Spertus, previously told Fox News Digital he expects his client will be acquitted and that the state’s case is weak.
The county prosecutors’ union, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, filed charges against both Iniguez and Teran in a 2022 lawsuit, alleging that they ordered subordinates to violate the law.
Neither Iniguez nor Gascón’s office immediately responded to requests for comment late Monday night.
