Los Angeles police on Monday arrested one of their own officers after he allegedly forced his romantic partner out of a San Fernando Valley home at gunpoint, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the case.
The officer, Anthony Gutierrez, was off duty when he was taken into custody by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Mission Division and booked on suspicion of kidnapping, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal department matter.
In a brief statement to The Times, LAPD spokesperson Lt. Elpidio Orozco said the department was aware of Gutierrez’s arrest, which happened about 3 p.m. at a residence in Sylmar. The officer’s bail was set at $150,000, Orozco said.
The department declined to comment further, citing “an ongoing investigation.”
No record of Gutierrez’s arrest appears in an online database maintained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees county jails, suggesting that he may have been booked in the LAPD’s detention facilities.
Department staffing records show that Gutierrez, 30, joined the force in March 2022 and previously worked in Newton Division in South L.A. before transferring to Foothill Division in the Valley.
On Monday, Gutierrez was accused of threatening his partner during a domestic dispute at their home, prompting her to call 911 for help — apparently unbeknownst to Gutierrez. He allegedly dragged the woman out of the home and into the street at gunpoint, where he was arrested by officers responding to the emergency call, one of the law enforcement sources said.
Gutierrez did not immediately respond to an email sent to his LAPD account.
Domestic violence has long been a serious, if usually hidden, problem in police departments across the country. In decades past, independent reports have found that the LAPD’s investigations of domestic violence allegations against its officers have often fallen short.
More recently, a department official admitted in a private hearing to underreporting misdemeanor domestic abuse allegations after the state passed a law that mandates reporting and can trigger permanent bans from police work in California.
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