A officer punched and held down a transgender man while he screamed for help, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is now looking into the incident. The man could be heard complaining to the deputy that he was having trouble breathing during the interaction, which was captured on recently made public security footage. At one point, he also shouted, “You’re going to kill me.”
Emmett Brock, 24, recalled seeing a deputy engaging in an argument with a woman on the side of the road in February while returning from his job as a teacher. Brock claimed that he gave the deputy the middle finger as he passed and that a patrol car began to pursue him, but the officer never activated the lights or sirens of the car.
He claimed the car followed him for several blocks through a residential area, and despite the absence of any lights or sirens, he contacted 911 to inquire whether he was being pulled over.
According to what Brock was told, if there weren’t any lights or sirens, he wasn’t being pulled over and could keep driving.
The footage indicates that Benza stated, “I stopped you,” as Brock got out of his car and shut the door. Brock answered, “No, you didn’t,” aware that he had phoned 911 to be sure, he claimed. The moment he heard the deputy’s hands were on him, though, he broke down in fear and declared, “I’m going to die.”According to the footage, Benza seized Brock, threw him to the ground, and then held him for three minutes while repeatedly striking him in the head.
Brock is heard screaming, “You’re going to kill me.” “You’re f—ing going to murder me. Help! Help! Help! I am not defiant.
Brock claimed to be 5 feet, 4 inches tall and 115 pounds, while Benza, in his estimation, stands at roughly 6 feet and weighs 180 pounds.
Brock claimed that “his entire body weight is on top of me, and he flipped me over and threw me on my head,” adding that his glasses immediately cracked. “I’ve never even engaged in combat, and I’ve never received a speeding ticket or anything similar. I’ve never been punched before, so when this deputy who is much bigger than me started hitting me from behind with full power, I knew there was no way I was going to survive this.
Following the scuffle, Benza took Brock into custody and placed him in the patrol car.
According to an arrest record Beck released to NBC News, Benza claimed he stopped Brock because of a hanging object from Brock’s rearview mirror that seemed to be in violation of a California law by obstructing the driver’s forward vision.
The overhead lights were not on when Benza pulled into the 7-Eleven parking lot behind Brock, as evidenced by the video, despite the fact that Benza claimed to have turned them on in the arrest report. “My patrol vehicle overhead lights, which include a fixed forward-facing red lamp,” Benza wrote.
According to Benza, he got out of the car and told Brock that he had “stopped (detained) him,” but Brock denied doing so and claimed that “it appeared he was about to walk away from the car and myself.” He continued by stating that Brock’s “rejection of my traffic detention and his apparent intent to distance himself from his vehicle further raised safety concerns.”
“I know from my training and experience that those who possess contraband items inside vehicles commonly attempt to disassociate themselves from their vehicles when law enforcement is present,” stated Benza.
Brock “continuously tried to bite” Benza, he continued, and he was afraid he was going to get punched. He claimed to have struck Brock “about eight times in quick succession.”
“My punches had their intended effect,” Benza wrote, adding that Brock stopped trying to bite him and wrapped his arms around his own head.
A request for comment from Benza received no response.In a statement sent through email, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated that it “takes all use of force incidents seriously.”
According to the statement, “The Department is looking into the information and claims made by Mr. Brock and his attorney.” We regret that we are currently unable to speak further owing to the ongoing legal proceedings in this situation.
Brock claimed to have revealed his transgender identity to deputies at the Norwalk Sheriff’s Station, a division of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where he was arrested.
Brock recalled that the jailer “started just badgering me with questions,” one of which was, “So, you’re actually a woman?” likewise “Do you own a penis? You are undoubtedly a lady if you lack a penis.Every time I deny being a woman, I can feel him getting more and more angry, Brock stated. If he disagreed, he was afraid the jail would raise his bond, so he chose to simply nod and respond, “OK.” The gender markers on all of his identification documents, he continued, read “male.”
A female employee was then brought in by the male jail official, who informed Brock that she would need to “see everything,” Brock recalled. Before being put in a women’s holding cell, she took him to a neighboring restroom where he showed her his genitalia, told her about the operations he’s had, and discussed the effects of testosterone.
Brock remarked, “I don’t know what I could have shown her on my body that would have been sufficient for them. “I simply felt so lowly. I felt ashamed. I felt little. While you’re in their custody, these police officers and sheriff’s deputies are ordering you to do something, and if you don’t want to make things worse for yourself, your bond to be increased, and to be there longer, you have to do everything they say. You have no control at all.
Concerning Brock’s allegations, the sheriff’s office did not provide a response.
According to Brock, he was arrested for three felonies—mayhem, resisting arrest, and obstruction—as well as a misdemeanor—failure to obey a police officer. He claimed that because of the pending allegations, he lost his teaching position three days later and is still without a work today. He claimed that although his parents and girlfriend have been supporting him, he is also racking up debt.
According to arrest records, prosecutors have chosen to pursue two misdemeanor allegations of resisting arrest and violence on an officer.
Brock claimed he experiences anxiety every time he gets behind the wheel because he worries a sheriff’s deputy will recognize his car’s make and model and pull him over. His job, one of his biggest sources of fulfillment, was also taken away by the arrest. He was an English instructor for the 12th grade at an alternative school for young people in danger.”That was my sense of value. Helping others, mentoring these students, and being there for them, he claimed, was how he found meaning in life. “So when I lost that, that was just my happiness, it’s been a lot of depression and hopelessness,” the speaker said.
He claimed that though he had given the deputy the middle finger as he passed, others had asked him whether he regretted it. He replied that he didn’t.
He stated, “I felt like that’s what I could do in that moment to stand up for that woman,” adding that the deputy seemed to be harassing her. I regret how harshly and aggressively he responded, and then that he beat me for it. However, I have no regrets about exercising my First Amendment freedom.
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