West Covina Police Deny Larry Hernández Stopped For Alleged Drug Trafficking

Larry Hernández

Police in West Covina stopped Hernández for a traffic violation and not for drug trafficking as he claims in his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

 

By H. Nelson Goodson

December 11, 2013

West Covina, CA - On Wednesday, Rudy Lopez, the Public Information Officer for the West Covina Police Department stated that on Decembed 5, around 2:53 p.m., a citizen reported suspicious persons inside a vehicle. When an officer arrived at the scene, he saw an SUV leaving the area and committed a traffic violation. The driver was stopped for a traffic violation.

When the officer asked the driver for identification, the driver gave the officer an out of state license identifying him as Larry Hernández. 

A record check, indicated that there was a name match for a person with the same name that was wanted. It took about 40 minutes to verify that Hernández was not the same person. A record verification involved another agency and when it was determined that Hernández was not the same person, he was allowed to leave, according to Lopez. Lopez did not confirm, if Hernández was cited for the traffic violation.

Lopez stated, "It is the policy of the West Covina Police Department to sternly condemn racial profiling or biased policing. It is also the policy of the West Covina Police Department to observe all Federal, State or Local ordinances concerning racial profiling, search and seizure and to respect all the protections guaranteed under the United States Constitution."

Hernández has not responded to Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) after several attempts were made about his error in identifying Covina Police Department as the law agency that stopped him last Thursday. He mistakenly posted on his Twitter account "Mayor del Cartel" and in his Larry Hernández Facebook (FB) account that it was a Covina police officer that had stopped him on suspicion (profiled) of being a drug trafficker and a member of a drug cartel. 

HNNUSA contacted the Covina Police Department about Hernández's allegation. Kim Raney, the Covina Police Chief stated, after reviewing their in-car video camera system, they found no recorded incident of Hernández ever being stopped by their department. Raney identified the police squad in Hernández posted FB photo of a reflection of a police squad as a West Covina Police Department vehicle.

As of Wednesday night, Hernández has failed to correctly identify West Covina Police Department and its officers as the law enforcement agency that stopped him on Thursday.

Hernández originally from Los Angeles, gained his popularity in 2009 for depicting the Mexican drug cartel culture in his album that included 16 ballad songs of Narco songs. He won an award for the Mexican Regional Artist of the Year for 2012 Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. In 2010, he won the Latin Artist of the Year in the New category for the Latin Billboard Music Awards. 

In 2011, Hernández won Regional Mexican Airplay Artist of the Year and Regional Mexican Albums Artist of the Year for the Latin Billboard Music Awards.