Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
He Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) released body camera video Wednesday that captured a sheriff’s beating of a woman holding a baby in her arms during an arrest last year in Palmdale.
The recording was released moments before Sheriff Robert Luna gave a press conference at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, where described the officer’s action as unacceptable.
“I found the beating of the woman in these circumstances completely unacceptable. While this incident occurred a year ago before my term as Sheriff began, I took swift action upon learning of this incident several days ago,” Luna stated.
It was reported that the sheriff involved in the incident he had been recalled from his field service.
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The incident occurred in July 2022 and stemmed from a traffic stop when Palmdale station sheriffs noticed a vehicle driving without headlights at night and smelling of alcohol inside.
Luna said that in the car was the driver, a man, who was accompanied by four women and three babies, who were in the arms of their mothers.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
In the video, one of the women is heard saying that she has an infant car seat at home and asks if she can go get it.
The man was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license and allegedly under the influence of alcohol., endangering the three children. The four women were detained on suspicion of endangering their babies.
Luna said that, during the arrest, one of the women refused to hand over her three-week-old baby and was punched twice in the face by a bailiff.
On the recording, the child can be seen being forcibly taken from its mother as she screams. Another of the women was sitting on the floor, holding her three-week-old son.
When the bailiffs tried to convince the woman to give up her baby, the victim replied: “You will have to shoot me dead before you take my baby.”
When resisting arrest, a bailiff hit her several times in the face, and finally the woman was handcuffed.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Sheriff Luna mentioned that the sheriff who hit the woman is an individual who will be held accountable.noting that the work of other LASD officers do “an incredible job on behalf of 10 million residents.”
Moon expressed that California law does not allow you to speak publicly regarding disciplinary action taken against the sheriff involved, but said LASD referred this case to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of possible criminal charges; in addition to the fact that the FBI in Los Angeles also opened an investigation into the incident.
Last week, Sheriff Luna said two sheriffs were recalled from field duty after video was released of a Lancaster deputy assaulting a woman who was recording a man being handcuffed on a cell phone. June 24.
Federal agencies maintain supervision of the reforms that the LASD agreed to for its stations in Lancaster and Palmdaleinvolved in the two recent cases publicly disclosed in recent days.
In 2015, LASD settled federal indictments charging officers at both stations with committing excessive force and racially biased policing, including disproportionate stop and search of Hispanics and African-Americans.
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