George Fierro, the El Monte cop identified by sources inside City Hall as the officer who kicked a prone suspect in the head, owns Torcido Clothing, a line of apparel catering to gang members that glorifies prison life.
The Torcido
Clothing company “features some of the hardestauthentic jail house threads for the streets. Straight from East L.A., Califas …” according to its Web site.’
Selling clothes about gang or prison life is “completely inconsistent” with behavior expected from officers, said Jay Wachtel, a Cal State Fullerton ethics instructor in the criminal justice program.
“I can’t possibly imagine a law enforcement officer selling clothes that glorify gang activity,” he said.
On Torcido’s Web site, shoppers can buy a T-shirt emblazoned with “186.22,” the section of the state’s criminal code that gives more prison time to people who commit a crime related to street gang activity.
Another shirt has “L.A. County Jail” on the front. Another has “Dept. of Corrections P-Bay Segregated Housing Unit,” which refers to the Pelican Bay State Prison unit where leaders of the Mexican Mafia are housed.
