The former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy accused of covering up a fellow deputy’s alleged DUI crash in Stevenson Ranch in 2022 and lying to investigators pleaded not guilty last week.
Gregory Davis, 55, pleaded not guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one misdemeanor count of giving false information to a peace officer and three misdemeanor counts of delaying and/or obstructing an investigation, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s office.
A DA’s office news release from August 2023 stated that Davis saw off-duty sheriff’s Deputy Carlos Perez had crashed a Sheriff’s Department patrol vehicle Aug. 26, 2022, near the intersection of Pico Canyon Road and North Southern Oaks Drive that Friday night.
A source familiar with the situation said Perez was found at his home nearby.
First responder radio dispatch traffic from the time indicated that a witness who reported the incident saw the deputy being assisted by someone else before leaving the scene with apparently minor injuries, according to a previous Signal story on the crash.
A retired Los Angeles Police Department officer was one of the first people to see the scene and reported the incident, according to a statement from District Attorney George Gascón.
“Davis initially did not identify himself as an off-duty deputy,” according to Gascón’s statement. “Davis arrived, allegedly pulled his fellow deputy’s limp body out of the crashed SUV and placed him in the vehicle of his fellow deputy’s wife, who drove him home. … Davis then attempted to move the deputy’s SUV before an off-duty LAPD officer passing by (and) called authorities.”
The LAPD officer was not identified in the statement.
The incident is part of an investigation by the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division.
Davis was relieved of duty after the charges against him were announced in August 2023, according to previous reporting in The Signal.
“Sheriff (Robert) Luna does not tolerate any form of behavior inconsistent with our mission and core values nor is any law enforcement officer above the law,” reads an LASD statement sent to The Signal at the time. “Sheriff’s deputies work tirelessly to serve the community and are entrusted with maintaining the public’s trust. When individuals taint that trust and engage in criminal misconduct they will be investigated and fully prosecuted under the law.”
Davis has a preliminary hearing set for Feb. 23 at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.
