from the catching-a-beating-for-‘contempt-of-cop’ dept

It has long been acknowledged by federal courts that firing off a one-finger salute to law enforcement officers is not only not a crime, but protected speech. That means that the appearance of the “bird” cannot alone be the basis for stops or arrests. And it certainly doesn’t justify force deployment, especially that of the “excessive” variety.

If you’re unsure of how the federal government feels about giving cops the finger, the DOJ’s charging document [PDF] spells it out succinctly:

As Victim E.B. drove past defendant BENZA, defendant BENZA saw Victim E.B. extend his middle finger at defendant BENZA. The gesture of extending one’s middle finger at, colloquially known as “flipping off” or a “flip off,” a law enforcement officer is an activity protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

“Defendant BENZA” would be Joseph Benza III, a deputy working for the Los Angeles county Sheriff’s Department (LASD). The LASD has been infamous for years, thanks to things like housing deputy “gangs” who celebrate excessive force deployment with new tattoos or the occasional maiming of one of their members. It’s also been the subject of a DOJ investigation, thanks to massive amounts of internal corruption that extends to its illegal jail informant program.

“Victim E.B” is Emmett Brock, a transgender person who flipped off Deputy Benza as he drove past the officer’s cruiser. That one-and-done led to a far more concentrated effort by the deputy to punish Brock for daring to disrespect him, however briefly.

In response to seeing Victim E.B.’s gesture, defendant BENZA abandoned the call for service he had confirmed and instead began closely following Victim E.B. In pursuing Victim E.B., defendant BENZA drove through the residential neighborhood, at certain points reaching speeds over 50 miles per hour. Defendant BENZA followed Victim E.B. for approximately 1.8 miles without attempting to stop or pull over Victim E.B.

As defendant BENZA chased after Victim E.B., defendant BENZA called Deputy A. During the call, defendant BENZA told Deputy A that someone had just flipped him off and that defendant BENZA was going to conduct a traffic stop of that person. Because defendant BENZA intended to use force against Victim E.B., defendant BENZA further asked Deputy A to start driving towards defendant BENZA’s location.

That’s right: Deputy Benza peeled off from his response to a domestic violence call for the sole purpose of deliberately inflicting physical pain to the person who had briefly slighted him. Benza never officially pulled over Brock. Instead, he waited until Brock had parked in front of a convenience store before pulling up behind Brock and activating his lights.

That led to this:

Defendant BENZA approached Victim E.B., who was exiting Victim E.B.’s car. Defendant BENZA told Victim E.B. that defendant BENZA had stopped Victim E.B. Victim E.B. denied that defendant BENZA had stopped Victim E.B.

Without giving any commands to Victim E.B., defendant BENZA then grabbed Victim E.B. Victim E.B. pulled away from defendant BENZA and said, “Don’t touch me.” Defendant BENZA then violently body slammed Victim E.B. onto the ground. Once Victim E.B. was on the ground, defendant BENZA mounted Victim E.B.,punched Victim E.B.’s head and face multiple times, and pressed Victim E.B.’s face into the pavement. Victim E.B. repeatedly screamed for help and shouted, “You’re going to kill me!”; “I can’t breathe!”; and “Please stop!”

[Personal note: I have experienced this same thing, minus the beating. I had a cop trail me for more than a mile and when I stopped at a convenience store, he claimed he had pulled me over. I called bullshit and more cops arrived, shined their flashlights into the cab of my truck and claimed someone had reported my “exhibition” driving nearly 10 miles away from the point I was “pulled over.” I again called bullshit and gradually the officers all wandered away to apparently find someone more easily exploitable to exploit. That I was white definitely altered the contours of the stop. It could have been worse. Sure, this is just anecdata, but it’s something cops do everywhere they think they can get away with it.]

All of this was captured by convenience store’s cameras, which is the only recording captured. Nothing was captured by the deputy’s dash cam. On top of that, Deputy Benza and his co-conspirators (although none of the unnamed deputies are being criminally charged) crafted a narrative that hid the fact this “stop” was initiated solely for the purpose of revenge, deleted text messages between the involved officers that indicated otherwise, and buried the fact that Benza searched the victim’s phone to ensure the beaten person’s device didn’t contain a recording of this stop.

Meanwhile, Brock suffered far more than physical harm as a result of this fake, retributive “stop.” This is from the Los Angeles Times’ report on the latest developments in this case it has been following since it was first reported by Brock.

In his report, Benza said it appeared Brock was “about to throw a punch,” so he grabbed his arm and struck first, hitting him repeatedly. During the struggle, the deputy’s report claimed, Brock “attempted to rip my skin from my hand” by repeatedly biting him.

But a paramedic’s report from the scene did not mention any bite marks. And when Benza went to a hospital later, a physician assistant wrote that there were “no bite marks at this time.”

Still, Brock was taken to the Norwalk sheriff’s station and booked on three felonies and one misdemeanor. He suffered a concussion, along with scrapes and bruises.

Brock’s family bailed him out that evening. He lost his job four days later after state authorities notified the school of his pending charges, which were dropped several weeks after The Times first published video of the incident.

Fortunately, this assault was caught on tape. Otherwise, the DOJ might have been forced to label its investigation as inconclusive. But since it was — and there are plenty of other criminal charges the DOJ could choose to bring against the deputy — Benza has pleaded guilty to the excessive force charge.

Nearly two years after he was caught on camera beating a transgender man in a 7-Eleven parking lot, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to a civil rights violation for using excessive force, prosecutors said Wednesday.

[…]

In a plea agreement filed the same day, Benza said he would admit to a single felony charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

That means Benza will only pay the price for a single criminal charge, rather than the multiple illegal acts detailed in the DOJ’s charging document. Whether or not he’ll actually spend any time in prison remains to be seen. But, for now, Deputy Benza is out of a job and facing possible prison time, however minimal it may end up being. As for his former employer, it’s not better than it has always been: a welcoming home for repeat rights violators.

Previously, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s internal use-of-force investigation cleared the deputy of wrongdoing. This week, the department said in a statement that the prior determination was based on the statements and reports provided at the time. 

That’s fucked up. That’s the LASD indicating that when it comes to internal investigations, it’s the officers’ words against apparently… no one. It won’t look for anything that might contradict officers’ sworn statements, even if it’s more than likely recordings of the alleged acts exist. After all, there’s likely not a single convenience store in the Los Angeles area that isn’t crawling with CCTV cameras. All it would have taken is a single request to undermine the deputy cabal’s bullshit assertions. And yet, the LASD couldn’t be bothered to take another look at this case until after the LA Times posted the recording. That’s just sickening.

Filed Under: emmett brock, excessive force, joseph benza, lasd, los angeles sheriff’s dept., police misconduct