A pair of former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies are accused of violating a skateboarder’s civil rights in 2020.

Yesterday (April 13), The Associated Press shared that the two ex-officers turned themselves in to authorities. The news comes after unsealed court papers revealed a grand jury indicted the former cops in March.

“The indictment alleges that these two deputies violated a young person’s constitutional rights by willfully and illegally detaining him without just cause,” U.S. attorney Martin Estrada said in a news release. “Officers who abuse their power must be held accountable, and my office is committed to prosecuting violations of civil rights by those who violate their oaths and victimize those who they were sworn to protect.”

Federal prosecutors also alleged that the ex-deputies — Miguel Vega and Christopher Hernandez — perpetrated a cover-up. They are both charged with conspiracy, deprivation of rights under color of law, witness tampering, and falsification of records. Vega faces an additional count of falsifying documents.

On April 13, 2020, the former cops encountered the skateboarder, identified as J.A. in court papers, at a Compton skatepark. Vega and Hernandez reportedly approached two young Black men, and J.A. yelled at the officers to leave them alone.

A prosecutor shared that deputies pulled the skateboarder through an opening in the fence of the enclosed park. The indictment alleged that Vega and Hernandez did not follow police protocol and inform J.A. of his rights, nor did they tell him he was under arrest or secure him in the back seat of their vehicle.

According to the prosecutor, Vega informed J.A. they would drop him off in gang territory, where he “would be beaten.” But instead, the deputy began pursuing a bicyclist down an alley and crashed the car. The indictment noted that the skateboarder suffered a cut above his right eye during the incident. Vega reportedly hopped out of the vehicle and told J.A. to leave.

However, the deputies then reported that a suspect, matching the skateboarder’s clothing description, fled the scene with a gun. The officers did not reveal that J.A. was previously in the back of their cruiser. Vegas and Hernandez stand accused of falsifying incident reports later that month, wrongfully claiming that J.A. threatened to hurt people at the park. Both deputies remained on active duty until December 2020.

The sheriff’s department shared they helped federal agencies with a criminal investigation that led to the indictment of Vega and Hernandez, who were also involved in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old in 2020. “The sheriff’s department is committed to holding employees accountable for their actions and expects them to exhibit the highest moral and ethical standards when serving our communities,” a statement said.