LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – Surveillance footage from a 7-Eleven retailer in California captured the violent arrest of a transgender man by a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division earlier this yr.
The Feb. 10 incident occurred within the car parking zone of the comfort retailer round 12:30 p.m.
Footage of the arrest exhibits an LASD deputy, recognized by the Los Angeles Occasions as Deputy Joseph Benza, pulling into the car parking zone immediately behind 23-year-old Emmet Brock’s black Honda Civic, blocking him in.
The deputy is then seen exiting his cruiser and approaching Brock as he was getting out of his Honda. Audio of the arrest was captured by the deputy’s body-worn digital camera.
“Come right here. I simply stopped you,” the deputy is heard saying.
“No, you didn’t,” Brock replies as he turns towards the doorway of the shop.
“Yeah, I did,” the deputy replies as he grabs Brock and shortly takes him down.
“Oh, my god. What the f–– is occurring,” Brock is heard saying.
As Brock continued to wrestle on the bottom, screaming for assist the whole time, saying that Benza was going kill him and that he was not resisting, the deputy is seen on prime of him, holding him down and punching him within the head. The altercation lasted round three minutes earlier than the 23-year-old schoolteacher was cuffed and put into the deputy’s cruiser.
Brock’s lawyer, Thomas Beck, mentioned the deputy’s official cause for pulling his shopper over was an air freshener hanging from the car’s rear-view mirror however that he believes the deputy grew to become enraged after the 23-year-old flipped him off as he was driving by. The deputy then adopted Brock till he pulled into the 7-Eleven car parking zone.
“He says, ‘I pulled you over,’ and my shopper turns to him and mentioned, ‘No, you didn’t.’ (The deputy) already has his arms on him, he takes him to the bottom forcibly, injuring his personal hand, the deputy’s personal hand doing that, which he’s making an attempt accountable on my shopper, and began pummeling him,” the lawyer informed KTLA. “The video speaks for itself. He was pounding on the child’s head. He was identified with a concussion later after he was launched. This man dedicated a number of felonies in opposition to my shopper, and he’s gotten away with it up to now.”
Beck additionally claims that the sheriff’s division shouldn’t be investigating the incident, saying the division has not contacted him, nor have they contacted Brock, who has since misplaced his instructing job due to the costs filed in opposition to him.
“I imply, if there’s an investigation that must be carried out, you’d speak to the individuals who would provide the data you want. They didn’t do it,” Beck mentioned.
After he was arrested, Brock was taken to the Norwalk Sheriff’s Station the place he mentioned he was humiliated when he informed employees that he was a transgender man and so they requested to see his genitals earlier than deciding which holding cell to place him in.
Brock is now charged with two misdemeanors, resisting arrest and battery on an officer, although the 23-year-old and his lawyer declare it was Deputy Benza who used extreme pressure, which is why they needed to launch surveillance footage of the arrest.
The Sheriff’s Division issued the next assertion Monday morning concerning the incident:
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division takes all use of pressure incidents significantly. The Division is investigating the data and allegations introduced ahead by Mr. Brock and his lawyer. Sadly, we can’t remark any additional presently as a result of pending litigation on this matter,” the assertion learn.
