Disturbing new video shows the moment a transgender man was violently thrown to the floor and arrested by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy — during a traffic stop over an illegal air freshener.
The incident happened in a 7-Eleven parking lot in Glendale in February and left 23-year-old Emmett Brock with bruises and cuffs.
Moreover, it occurred during the substitute teacher’s routine drive from work and ultimately left him without a job. He still faces charges related to the incident, so he was fired.
He admitted to giving the deputy the middle finger before pulling over — something the deputy did not mention in the report.
Video from a 7-Eleven security camera shows the arrest — Brock didn’t resist after Deputy Joseph Benza pulled up directly into his back lot and stopped him.
Disturbing new video shows the moment a transgender man was violently thrown to the floor and arrested by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy — during a traffic stop over an illegal air freshener.
The incident happened in a 7-Eleven parking lot on Mills Avenue in February and left 23-year-old Emmett Brock bruised and cuffed.
Audio and video of the incident captured by the deputy’s body-worn camera provide a clearer picture, and show the officer using excessive force for what appeared to be no reason.
‘Come here. I stopped you,’ Deputy Brock can be heard saying as he exits the car and approaches the young teacher from behind.
‘No, you didn’t,’ Brock can be heard replying as he turns towards the entrance of the store, apparently under the belief the deputy was following him due to the gesture he made moments earlier.
‘Yes, I did,’ replied the deputy – before physically grabbing Brock and dragging him to the floor.
As this is happening, Brock looks scared and doesn’t fight back once.
‘Oh God. What’s going on,’ he can be heard saying in harrowing bodycam footage – released last month but now bolstered by newly released security footage from the convenience store.
It shows the deputy apparently escalating the encounter as soon as he gets out of the car, as Brock is seen standing nonchalantly.
Brock has since said that at this point he was unsure what he had done – and made no attempt to say why the officer seen in the footage was placing him under arrest.
For the next three minutes, Brock was seen struggling with the deputy — while being held to the sidewalk and punched repeatedly in the head.
‘You’re going to kill me,’ Brock can be heard screaming as he lies bloody on the floor. ‘You will kill me. Help! Help! Help! I’m not resisting!’
‘Come here. I stopped you,’ Deputy Brock can be heard saying as he exits the car and approaches the young teacher from behind.
‘No, you didn’t,’ Brock can be heard replying as he turns towards the entrance of the store, apparently under the belief the deputy was following him due to the gesture he made moments earlier.
‘Yes, I did,’ replied the deputy – before physically grabbing Brock and dragging him to the floor. As this happens, Brock does not appear to resist and does not fight back once, as the police had previously claimed
For the next three minutes, Brock was seen struggling with the deputy — while being held to the sidewalk and punched repeatedly in the head.
Brock was handcuffed and booked after the attack, and now faces felony charges of assault for resisting arrest and obstruction.
At one point, the deputy is seen — and heard — ordering the shaking victim to put his weapon behind his back.
However, Brock’s arms were already folded under his chest, with all of the officer’s weight resting on him.
Speaking to the LA Times, Brock later said: ‘Even when I got them out the way he wanted, he kept punching me.
He just kept saying, “Stop resisting, stop resisting.” I didn’t understand why he was shouting because I wasn’t resisting,’ he added.
Previously, the Sheriff’s Department cited how two witnesses after the incident came forward to say they saw Brock get out of his car and fight the deputy — with one in particular claiming they saw the young teacher throw a punch.
Newly released camera footage appears to disprove that claim – and shows no such encounter.
Furthermore, in an incident report written by Benza after the incident, the deputy made no mention of being hit by the suspect.
Moreover, it occurred during the substitute teacher’s routine drive from work and ultimately left him without a job. He is still facing charges for his involvement in the incident
Brock’s lawyer, Thomas Beck, said he saw a deputy pull over to ‘beat a woman of color,’ so he pulled the deputy over. That’s when Beck said the deputy began following Brock
However, he wrote that Brock resisted arrest — and that the force was justified. He said the collision occurred when Brock fled his vehicle after being pulled over for an air freshener illegally installed in his rearview mirror.
‘It looked like he was walking away from the car and me,’ Benza, who remains on the force as of Monday, wrote as part of an 11-page filing alleging the encounter.
‘His denial of my traffic stop and his apparent intent to distance himself from his vehicle further heightened the safety concerns,’ the deputy continued.
‘I know from my training and experience that people who place contraband inside vehicles usually try to disassociate themselves from their vehicle when law enforcement is present.’
The deputy went on to admit that he had, in fact, grabbed Brock’s arm and started the physical altercation – but said Brock pulled away and ‘balled his right hand into a fist, indicating someone was about to throw a punch.’
This led the officer to believe that Brock was ‘in the beginning of attacking me’, encouraging him to tackle him to the ground.
He claimed that as a result of the struggle, Brock ‘repeatedly tried to bite’ him, causing Benza to punch him ‘about eight times in rapid succession’.
The officer wrote of the decision to employ physical force: ‘My punches had their intended effect.’
The report — which charged Brock with resisting arrest and two other felonies — did not mention Brock’s cries for help, or that he repeatedly told deputies he couldn’t breathe and wasn’t resisting, as heard on the footage.
Benza instead wrote to his superiors and other city officials that Brock ‘tried to rip the skin off my hands’ – which he claimed ‘could cause permanent disfigurement.’
No paramedics’ reports at the scene or newly released footage showed any evidence of such an attack.
Medical records, meanwhile, showed Benza had suffered a ‘punch injury’ and fractured his right arm, the Times reported.
Currently fighting the cast, Brock’s lawyer Thomas Beck maintained the encounter after the deputy erupted in anger after getting the finger from his client, which Brock said he saw the officer ‘cheating on a woman of color’.
He claims that’s when the deputy began following Brock, eventually into the 7-Eleven lot where the altercation quickly unfolded.
‘He said, “I pulled you over,” and my client turned to him and said, “No, you didn’t,” the attorney told KTLA 5 this week as Brock still faces felony charges of assault by resisting arrest and obstruction.
‘[The deputy] He already has his hands on him, he forces him to the ground, hits his own hand, the deputy’s own hand, which he’s trying to blame on my client, and starts beating him.’
He added: ‘The video speaks for itself. He was patting the child on the head. He was later beaten after he was released. This guy committed multiple crimes against my client, and he’s gotten away with it so far.’
Since the release of the video, the Sheriff’s Department has revealed that it is now investigating the incident.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department takes all incidents of use of force seriously,” a statement said Monday.
‘The department is investigating the information and allegations brought by Mr. Brock and his attorney. Unfortunately, due to the pending litigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.’
As of Tuesday, Brock was still facing charges.
Four days after the incident, he lost his job after state authorities notified the school of pending cases against him.
‘I lost myself a lot in the parking lot that day,’ he told The Times Monday, vowing to fight the charges. ‘But I love what I do, and how do I define myself – and to take that away? I felt like I had lost everything.’
DailyMail.com has contacted his attorney for comment.