LA deputy charged with using stun gun on detained man

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy has been charged with unlawfully using a stun gun on a man who had been detained and handcuffed for investigation of shoplifting.

Hiraudi Lopez-Romero, a 29-year-old deputy, was charged with one count of felony assault, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a statement late Thursday.

Prosecutors said the charge stemmed from a report of shoplifting in the city of Compton in December 2020.

Authorities detained a man in response to the call but he allegedly resisted going into a deputy’s car and was pepper sprayed, the statement said. While inside the vehicle, the man was kicking his feet and broke a window, the statement said.

Lopez-Romero is accused of getting out of the vehicle and using a stun gun on him, the statement said. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 31.

The sheriff’s department had no immediate comment on the charge and could not provide a name for Lopez-Romero’s lawyer.