Angel Bonilla is a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who has served on the force since 1991 and drew public attention in July 2024 after he allegedly arrested a bystander who was recording officers on the street. He has also been named as a defendant in at least one prior civil lawsuit tied to his police work.
Who Angel Bonilla Is
Angel Salvador Bonilla joined the LAPD on November 4, 1991 as a patrol officer. He worked his way up from Police Officer I to Police Officer III and was promoted to sergeant on August 7, 2016.1Watch The Watchers. Angel S. Bonilla2Film The Police LA. Officer Profile: Angel Bonilla
Public compensation records show his pay has climbed sharply in recent years. In 2022 his total pay and benefits came to roughly $275,000. By 2024 that figure had reached about $323,900, driven in large part by more than $122,000 in overtime pay that year.1Watch The Watchers. Angel S. Bonilla
The July 2024 Arrest of a Man Filming Police
On July 29, 2024, Bonilla allegedly arrested a man who was recording officers as they detained a teenager. According to the account documented by Film The Police LA, the man kept his distance from the scene, but Bonilla told him to stop following the officers as they moved the teenager. Bonilla then detained and arrested him, charging him under California Penal Code section 148(a)(1), the statute covering willful resistance, delay, or obstruction of a peace officer.2Film The Police LA. Officer Profile: Angel Bonilla
A complaint was filed against Bonilla over the arrest, alleging illegal detainment and false arrest. As of October 2024, that complaint was listed as pending.2Film The Police LA. Officer Profile: Angel Bonilla
Was the Arrest Legal?
Under the First Amendment and California law, people have a well-established right to record law enforcement officers performing their duties in public places such as streets, sidewalks, and parks.3ACLU of Northern California. Know Your Rights: Police Interactions California Penal Code section 148(g) says directly that recording police activity in a public setting does not, by itself, violate the law.4PORAC Legal Defense Fund. Filming Police Activities in California
Section 148(a)(1), the charge Bonilla used, makes it a misdemeanor to willfully resist, delay, or obstruct an officer. Legal analysts note that courts have drawn a meaningful line here: filming, or even shouting at or being hostile toward officers, does not by itself meet the obstruction threshold. The statute requires significant interference with an officer’s ability to do the job.4PORAC Legal Defense Fund. Filming Police Activities in California The LAPD’s own Office of the Inspector General examined this tension in an August 2018 review of 148(a)(1) arrests, looking at who was being stopped, the reasons given, and the quality of the interactions, including de-escalation.5LA Office of the Inspector General. Significant Reports
Earlier Litigation: Martinez v. City of Los Angeles
The 2024 filming case is not the first lawsuit to name Bonilla. He was one of several LAPD officers listed as defendants in Martinez v. City of Los Angeles, a civil case arising from an incident on October 24, 2009. The plaintiffs alleged that during a pursuit of a motorcycle in the Hollenbeck area, an LAPD vehicle shined a blinding spotlight at the rider, causing a collision that killed him.6CaseMine. Martinez v. City of Los Angeles, B259980
Bonilla submitted a declaration stating that he and his partner had seen the motorcycle commit traffic violations and started the pursuit after suspecting the driver was intoxicated. The trial court granted summary judgment for all defendants, including Bonilla, on July 21, 2014, and the California Court of Appeal affirmed on October 27, 2015. The courts found that the plaintiffs could not identify which specific officer directed the spotlight and that all officers were immune from state tort liability under California Vehicle Code section 17004, which shields public employees from claims arising out of the operation of emergency vehicles during pursuits.6CaseMine. Martinez v. City of Los Angeles, B259980
How to Look Up Complaints and Records
Complaints against LAPD officers are investigated internally by the Professional Standards Bureau, with the independent Office of the Inspector General monitoring those investigations for thoroughness and impartiality. The Inspector General reports to the all-civilian Police Commission, not to the Chief of Police. Discipline itself, however, rests with the Chief alone; the Police Commission has no authority over individual disciplinary decisions. Under California law, the specific discipline imposed on an officer is confidential and generally not disclosed to the person who filed the complaint.7LA Office of the Inspector General. FAQs
Some officer records have become public under California’s Senate Bill 1421, enacted in 2018, and SB 16, enacted in 2021, which created exceptions to the longstanding confidentiality of peace officer personnel files.8LAPD Online. Senate Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 16 In August 2025, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and other partners launched the California Police Records Access Project, a searchable database of roughly 1.5 million pages of records from about 12,000 misconduct and use-of-force cases across nearly 700 California law enforcement agencies. Users can search by officer name, agency, and case type.9CalMatters. Police Misconduct Records Database