Sheriff’s Dept. Sued Over Handling of Slayings

The surviving victim and relatives of four people killed by the estranged husband of one victim filed a civil rights suit in U.S. District Court on Friday, alleging that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Sherman Block failed to guarantee “equal protection under the law” to minorities, women and children.

The August, 1989, shootings in East Los Angeles occurred shortly after Maria Navarro, who was celebrating her birthday with others at her home, called the sheriff’s emergency 911 line to say her estranged husband, Raymond, “was on his way to the residence to kill her and others present,” the suit said.

The sheriff’s dispatcher told Navarro to “just call us if he comes over. . . . We can’t have a unit sit there to wait,” according to the suit. But within 15 minutes, Raymond Navarro allegedly entered the house and killed his wife, her two aunts and a family friend. The suit was brought by Bertha Galvan, who was struck in the head by a bullet, Maria Navarro’s three children and other plaintiffs.