Los Angeles County probation officer charged with assault of teenager at Malibu juvenile camp
A supervising probation officer has been charged with assaulting a teenager at the Los Angeles County Probation Department's Camp Kilpatrick Facility back in 2020.
During a press conference on Monday, L.A. District Attorney George Gascón announced that the 59-year-old deputy probation supervisor Oscar Cross, faces up to three years in county jail if convicted on one charge of felony assault under the color of authority against a minor.
According to a report from the District Attorney's Office, Cross allegedly used excessive force back on October 23, 2020, as he and four other deputy probation officers attempted to restrain a juvenile.
"This was a brutal assault on a child by a person entrusted with his care while he was in custody of the probation department," Gascón said, noting that the incident took place just a day after the officer had undergone a four-hour course on child abuse prevention and reporting.
Video of the assault, which was procured by the Los Angeles Times, was "critical to our ability to charge this case," Gascón said, indicating that the footage shows the child screaming and crying in pain as the group of people push his foot over his head.
"I think it's hard to dispute when you have a video as clear as this particular video was that depicted the incident and the level of force that was being used and how unnecessary the force was," the D.A. said.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath also spoke at the press conference, expressing her disappointed with how the case has been handled internally thus far.
"Supervisor Cross' actions should have resulted in an immediate dismissal," Horvath said. "Not a slap on the wrist. Not a covering up of this abusive behavior."
It remains unclear whether any of the other probation officers involved will be charged, as Gascón disclosed there are multiple other investigations into the matter still ongoing.
Los Angeles County Probation Oversight Commissioner Franky Carrillo says that the criminal filing "will send a clear message to the department that this is something that cannot be accepted."
