Video shows LA deputy ignoring gunshot call to speak to woman
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy is under investigation after a video shows him appearing to ignore a gunshot call to record a video to a female friend.
In the video, Deputy Jeremy Fennell is sitting in his department cruiser as a dispatch call comes over the radio about a shooting in Lakewood, an area he patrolled.
"Someone's getting shot right now. ... I know I gotta go, but I'm not gonna go. Because you're mad. Someone got shot. Oh well. Because I want to make things right with you," he says in the video.
The 51-second video, first reported by WitnessLA, was posted by a woman who identified herself as the deputy's ex-girlfriend.
She later obtained a restraining order against him after an incident of alleged domestic violence at his Lakewood apartment on Jan. 24.
The woman, Priscilla Anderson, described the incident in an interview with Eyewitness News: "When I tried to leave, he would not allow me to leave. He did several things to me, like struck me on the neck, choking me out by the neck, destroying things in the house."
Fennell was arrested for the incident the next day and placed on administrative leave.
Anderson said when she stopped talking to Fennell, he would send her videos. She said she has more than 100 and she posted several to her Facebook page and send them to the Sheriff's Department.
But she made additional allegations about his behavior which may be equally disturbing: "He would just give people tickets randomly," she said. "He would send it to me, make more videos and just tell me I'm going to continue to be like this to other people until you decide that you want to talk to me."
Sheriff Jim McDonnell calls the videos "very disturbing."
Fennell, who has not been charged at this point, is facing two investigations, one an internal administrative investigation and the second an internal criminal investigation. The District Attorney's Office is also reviewing the case.
Fennell did not respond to requests for comment.
The video can be viewed on YouTube here. WARNING: The recording includes explicit language.
