Photo: ATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) officials posted video of a body camera of a sheriff who had an incident of alleged excess force with a woman he knocked down in Lancaster, a case that is under investigation.
The incident occurred on June 24 when officers from the Lancaster LASD station responded to the parking lot of a WinCo Foods storeat 740 W. Avenue K 4 while responding to reports of a “burglary in progress.”
“Upon arrival, officers approached a man and a woman matching the description given by store security personnel on 911 calls. When officers attempted to detain individuals described by store security personnel store, the encounter became a use-of-force incident,” the LASD said in a statement.
Authorities said a community member recorded the incident with a cell phone, images that the Sheriff himself described as disturbing.
Recordings from officers’ body cameras show deputies approaching a man to arrest him.
“Why am I arrested? Why?” the suspect is heard saying on the recording.
His wife, who was standing nearby, records the scene with a cell phone. A bailiff approaches him and struggles with the woman while she tells him that she did nothing.
“You can’t touch me!” the woman yells at the officer, who orders her to get on the ground.
“Stop or you’re going to get punched in the face,” the sheriff tells the woman before he pepper sprays her in the face when she’s on the ground.
The woman accused that the bailiff put a knee on her neck.
“I can’t breathe!” he is heard saying on the recording.
In the recording made by the community member, the man is heard asking the sheriff not to hit the woman and mentioned that she has cancer.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has opened an investigation into this incident. While the Department is not making any statements related to the ongoing investigations, Sheriff Luna makes it clear that he expects LASD personnel to treat all members of the public with dignity and respect, and that personnel who fail to meet our standards of training will be responsible,” LASD added in its brief.
It was reported that the two constables involved in the incident have been reassigned from field duty pending further administrative review.
Lancaster community members planned to hold a protest outside the grocery store where the incident occurred to demand LASD fire the deputies involved.
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