Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy agrees to plead guilty to assaulting transgender man

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge for assaulting a 23-year-old transgender man, body-slamming the victim who had flipped him off just before, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Joseph Benza III, a 36-year-old Corona resident, was charged Tuesday with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and agreed to plead guilty to the federal civil rights violation in a plea agreement filed the same day, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Federal prosecutors said he also tried to cover up the assault later on. 

The federal charge carries a statutory maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison, prosecutors said. Benza has since been relieved of duty, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said in the statement released Wednesday by federal prosecutors.

Surveillance video shows the deputy grab the victim from behind before pulling him to the ground and getting on top of him. According to prosecutors, Benza punched the victim in the face and head a number of times.

He was working at the department's Norwalk station and responding to a domestic violence call on Feb. 10, 2023, when he saw the victim, only identified by prosecutors as E.B., drive by and flip up his middle finger. In the statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, federal prosecutors note the expression is protected by the First Amendment. 

"After seeing that he had been "flipped off," Benza abandoned the domestic violence call and closely followed E.B.'s vehicle for 1.8 miles, intending to retaliate against E.B. with force," reads the statement, citing the plea agreement. 

The victim called 911 to report he was being followed and later drove into a parking lot, where prosecutors said Benza parked behind him and turned on the overhead lights on his patrol car for the first time. Then, according to the plea agreement, Benza went up to the victim as he was getting out of his car and grabbed him without giving any commands beforehand.

As the victim tried to pull away, telling the deputy "Don't touch me," Benza body-slammed him, prosecutors said. While the victim was on the ground, Benza punched him and pressed his face into the pavement, an allegation prosecutors said he admitted to in the plea agreement. The victim was left with a concussion and other wounds including contusions and abrasions.

When Benza was later filling out a report on the incident, he asked other deputies whether he should mention that he had started following the victim because he got flipped off. At the time, three LASD sergeants told Benza he should leave out that fact in the report, according to the plea agreement. Federal prosecutors said Benza later admitted to filling out a false report.

He instead wrote in the report that he had pulled the victim over for having an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, according to prosecutors. He cited the victim with criminal mayhem, prosecutors said, falsely stating that the victim had bitten his hand hard enough to puncture the skin. 

He also discussed with the other deputies how they would delete their text messages about the incident from their phones, according to prosecutors, and later lied to federal authorities who were investigating. The FBI has been handling the case.

In agreeing to plea guilty, Benza also admitted to prosecutors that a sergeant had written "substantive portions" of the incident report, according to the statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"This senseless assault and subsequent attempted cover-up are an affront to our system of justice," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the statement, which also included a response from Sheriff Luna.

"It is deeply troubling that a member of our Department, who has since been relieved of duty, violated the trust placed in them to uphold the law by abusing their authority," Luna said in the statement. "These actions undermine the integrity of our Department, the trust of our community, and the safety of those we are sworn to protect."