Video Shows Deputy Body-Slamming Trans Man After Driver Allegedly Flipped Him Off

A newly released video shows a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy violently throwing a transgender man to the ground during a traffic stop allegedly over an air freshener, though the man’s attorney said it was payback for the driver flipping off the deputy.

The video, which was taken back in February but recently obtained by local news outlets, shows the deputy pulling up behind the man’s parked car at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Whittier, just southeast of Los Angeles, and then quickly grabbing him after he exits his vehicle.

“Come here. I just stopped you,” the deputy tells him while approaching.

“No you didn’t. Get your hands off me,” the man responds as the deputy grabs for his arms and takes him down to the ground.

The man, identified as Emmett Brock, screams for help while pinned face-down beneath the deputy, who shouts for him to put his hands behind his back.

“I can’t, you have my hand!” Brock repeatedly shouts. “I’m not resisting. Stop, stop!”

Brock’s attorney said he was repeatedly punched in his head, resulting in a concussion.

“He must’ve punched him eight to 10 times in the head, maliciously,” attorney Thomas Beck told Fox 11 News. “There was no reason for the contact. It was purely retaliatory.”

The deputy, identified as Joseph Benza, claimed that he stopped Brock for having an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, according to the arrest report obtained by Fox 11 News.

The man was filmed being thrown to the ground during a traffic stop allegedly over an air freshener.

Many states prohibit objects from being hung from rearview mirrors over concerns they can obstruct the driver’s view. Civil rights advocates have argued that the law gives police an excuse to unfairly target and pull over minorities. Daunte Wright, a Black Minnesota motorist, was fatally shot by police in 2021 during a traffic stop that authorities said was initiated due to his air freshener.

Last year the Los Angeles Police Department said it would put limits on such pretextual traffic stops as the stops were disproportionally targeting the city’s Black and Latino residents.

Brock was taken into custody on charges of mayhem, causing serious injury to a deputy, resisting arrest and failing to obey a lawful order. While being booked into a holding cell, he was forced to physically expose himself to the staff after they questioned his gender. He was ultimately placed among women, Beck said.

As for why physical force was used, the deputy said in his arrest report that he tackled Brock because it appeared as though he might try to punch him. Once on the ground, he said Brock bit him and that his injuries “could result in permanent disfigurement,” though medics who examined him did not cite any evidence of him being bit. He did have a fractured right hand from what was described as a “punching injury,” The Los Angeles Times reported citing a copy of an emergency room report.

Beck said the incident was retaliatory because it followed Brock making an obscene gesture at the sheriff’s deputy on the side of the road. He did this because he saw the deputy having a heated discussion with a woman.

Brock continued driving and soon saw the deputy closely following his vehicle. The driver mirrored his turns, prompting Brock to call 911 to see if someone could confirm whether it was in fact a sheriff’s deputy or an imposter since the vehicle had not turned on its lights to pull him over, said Beck, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The entire incident was reviewed through the Sheriff’s department’s force review progress and the deputy was cleared of wrongdoing. His use of force was described as “objectively reasonable” by one sergeant, according to the Times.

A sheriff’s department spokesperson confirmed Monday that an internal investigation into the incident is underway, though they declined to say whether the deputy remains on active duty.

“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department takes all use of force incidents seriously. The Department is investigating the information and allegations brought forward by Mr. Brock and his attorney. Unfortunately, we cannot comment any further at this time due to the pending litigation in this matter,” the department said in a statement.