"You're going to kill me," transgender man shouts while being violently arrested by LASD deputy
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is facing another accusation of using excessive force during an arrest in Whittier.
According to 24-year-old Emmett Brock, who is transgender, a deputy tailed him for several blocks before the pair pulled into a 7-Eleven parking lot in Whittier. A security camera caught the pair's encounter.
"The video is seared into my brain," said Brock. "I don't need to watch it. I know what happened."
Both the deputy and Brock exited their vehicles soon after parking. The deputy told Brock to "come here" while approaching the 24-year-old's car. The situation escalated after a brief back-and-forth debate about whether or not the deputy stopped Brock.
"He was never on the radio," said Brock. "No lights. No sirens. The lights came on, I think, when he parks the car behind me. That's the first time I saw the lights."
The deputy placed his hands on Brock, in what appears to be an attempt to detain him. Within seconds, he slams Brock to the pavement after a short struggle.
"In my opinion, that was excessive force," said Timothy Williams, a retired LAPD detective who is now a use-of-force expert. "And it didn't have to happen that way."
The pair exchanged a few words while the deputy pinned Brock to the ground.
"I told you to stop. You walked away," the deputy said. "You have a weapon on you?"
Brock told the deputy he did not have a weapon on him, while using expletives, shortly before shouting "I can't breathe" and "you're going to kill me."
"Automatically I see red flags," said attorney Tom Yu, who is representing a deputy in another prominent LASD use-of-force investigation in Lancaster. "The suspect is walking away. He's not been padded down for weapons. He immediately resists and the fights on."
Brock's attorney Tom Beck said his client was pulled over for having an air freshener hanging from his car mirror, which Yu said qualified as an obstruction to driving.
"But the moment the suspect resisted, that is no longer an air freshener situation. It becomes, now, resisting arrest," said Yu. "And the suspect bit my client on the hand and there are photographs of bite marks on his right hand."
Beck disputed the biting claim and said the deputy was examined by paramedics and later at an urgent care facility.
"The reports says there's no evidence of a bite," he said. "He's got scraped knuckles that's it."
Yu said the takedown would not have happened if Brock stayed in his car to hand over his license and registration.
The sheriff's department said it takes all use-of-force incidents seriously but could not comment on it "due to pending litigation."
Brock admitted to flipping off the deputy as he drove by what appeared to be a tense scene. After his arrest and after staff learned he was a transgender man, Brock claimed department employees forced him to show his private parts while in jail.
The 24-year-old said he lost his teaching job because he's facing two misdemeanor charges. Yu said there was a use-of-force review and the deputy did not face any punishment.
