L.A. sheriff’s deputy avoids jail in shooting death of suicidal man

An L.A. County sheriff’s deputy will avoid jail time in the 2021 shooting death of a suicidal man under the terms of a plea deal reached with prosecutors Tuesday morning.

Remin Pineda will be placed on two years of probation and must give up his right to be a police officer in California after pleading no contest to one count of assault with a firearm and one count of assault under color of authority, prosecutors said.

Pineda must also perform 250 hours of community service and provide a written apology to the victim’s family. He also faces a suspended sentence of 180 days in jail if he violates the terms of the deal and he is barred from owning a firearm for the rest of his life.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office worked out a similar agreement last year with Pineda, one of four deputies who shot David Ordaz Jr. to death in front of his family’s house as the man wielded a knife in 2021. But a judge rejected the deal after Ordaz’s relatives made emotional pleas that his potential sentence was too light.

Ordaz’s family lined the courtroom again Tuesday, many of them wearing pins emblazoned with an image of their loved one, shedding tears even before L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Ryan Dibble finished explaining the terms of the deal.

Hilda Pedroza, the victim’s oldest sister, pleaded with Los Angeles County Judge Mark S. Arnold to allow a jury of county residents to decide Pineda’s fate and give her family “hope in this justice system.”

“Give an opportunity for the community of L.A., for the county of L.A., to actually watch this video to give them an opportunity to see it themselves and judge for themselves,” she said.

This time, Arnold accepted the plea deal. He said he “agonized” over the decision but was ultimately swayed by the fact that Pineda didn’t respond to the call with the intent to kill Ordaz and had to make the decision to fire “in the blink of an eye.”

“I don’t believe this is a good resolution for anybody, but I’ll tell ya I’ve been in this business a long time and I think it does comport with justice,” Arnold said.

In a statement, a district attorney’s office spokeswoman said Pineda’s lack of criminal history made it “unlikely” he’d have faced prison time even if convicted at trial.

“Our hearts go out to Mr. Ordaz’s family for their immeasurable loss, and we cannot pretend to know the pain they suffer,” the statement read. “However, we believe that the outcome is appropriate given the circumstances of the case.”

Pineda was charged with assault with a firearm and assault under color of authority in 2022. Prosecutors determined they didn’t have enough evidence to charge two other deputies who shot Ordaz, and said a third acted in lawful self-defense.

Pineda’s use of force was deemed excessive, however, because he continued shooting even after Ordaz was on the ground and fired at least one round after he dropped the knife, according to a recording of the incident played in court last year.

Deputies were called to the home in March 2021 after Ordaz, 34, armed himself with a blade and told his sister he was suicidal. When deputies confronted him, he was holding a 12-inch kitchen knife and screamed at deputies to shoot him, according to body camera footage taken at the scene.

“That’s not what we want to do, man,” Pineda said, according to court records.

Eventually, deputies fired beanbag rounds in an effort to subdue Ordaz. But he moved toward them, and all four deputies opened fire, killing him with a barrage of at least a dozen bullets. The gunfire continued as Ordaz collapsed and his relatives screamed out, according to the video.

Pineda kept firing after the other deputies stopped shooting, even as Ordaz “continued to lie on the ground on the right side of his body,” according to court records.

Footage of the incident showed Pineda firing a round even after another deputy told him to stop.

Pineda’s attorney, Steven Alvarado, disagreed with the idea that jail time would be the only justice in the case and said he believed his client is paying a “heavy price.”

“There are no winners in this case,” he said. “I am empathetic to the family members that are here today.”

The case is representative of the struggles outgoing Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón has faced in his aggressive pursuit of police in excessive force cases. Although he has charged officers in shootings far more frequently than his predecessors, those cases have often ended in acquittals, dismissals or plea deals with minimal jail time.

“We have to take a realistic view in the particular courtroom that we are in, who the judges are, what kind of rulings we’ve been getting,” Gascón said in an interview with The Times last month. “Sometimes we settle for less than we want ... sometimes we recognize we’re working with a handicap and we’re doing the best we can.”

Emily Ordaz, the oldest of the victim’s three daughters, said such attitudes are problematic and show law enforcement officers they will face few, if any, consequences for killings like her father’s.

“So much lies in your hands and the decision you make in this case: the future of my family, the safety of the people of Los Angeles and any faith in the criminal justice system at all,” she told Arnold on Tuesday morning, adding that the deal given to Pineda tells police “that even with proper witness testimony, ample video evidence and a bit of luck, they can kill without repercussion.”