LA Sheriff’s deputy fired, agrees to plead guilty amid federal investigation into beating of trans man

(CNN) — After a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy agreed to plead guilty to a federal civil rights violation for using excessive force on a transgender man, who was arrested in 2023 under false pretenses and strip-searched, other deputies have been relieved of duty for their role in the incident.

Joseph Benza III, 36, was charged on December 17 with one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law for his involvement in the incident with then 23-year-old Emmett Brock (Victim E.B.).

Benza “and potentially additional employees” have been relieved of duty, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told CNN in a statement. The department has also initiated an internal administrative investigation based on the new information uncovered during the federal investigation.

Multiple sources within the department who requested to remain anonymous told The Los Angeles Times that at least eight people were relieved of duty. Sheriff’s officials told CNN they could not confirm how many employees were dismissed.

Benza was responding to a potential domestic violence disturbance call on February 10, 2023, when Brock drove past him and gave him the middle finger, according to the plea agreement. Benza then abandoned the domestic violence call and followed Brock for nearly two miles.

When Brock pulled into a 7-Eleven parking lot, Benza parked behind him and activated his SUV’s overhead lights for the first time, according to the plea agreement. The former deputy then confronted Brock and body slammed him to the ground, punched his head and face multiple times, and pressed his face into the pavement.

Brock yelled out, “You’re going to kill me! I can’t breathe!” and “Please stop!” during the attack, which left him with a concussion, bruising, cuts, and caused vomiting, according to the plea agreement.

When filing the incident report, Benza intentionally omitted seeing Brock flip him off, the plea agreement says, though he retaliated against him with excessive force because of it. Benza falsely said Brock bit him to portray him as a threat and conspired with other deputies and sergeants to lie and omit details from the incident report, according to the plea agreement.

“These actions undermine the integrity of our Department, the trust of our community, and the safety of those we are sworn to protect,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said in a statement, adding it is “deeply troubling” that Benza “violated the trust placed in them to uphold the law by abusing their authority.”

CNN has reached out to Benza’s attorney for comment.

Following his initial appearance in federal court, Benza was released on $50,000 bond, a US Department of Justice spokesman confirmed to CNN. He will return to court on January 17 and is expected to plead guilty to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, a charge that carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

Multiple deputies and sergeants participated in cover up

As Benza chased after Brock, the former deputy called another deputy and told them he was flipped off and was going to conduct a traffic stop on that person.

“Because defendant intended to use force against Victim E.B., defendant further asked Deputy A to start driving towards defendant’s location,” the plea agreement said.

In a report following the incident, Benza “lied about the reason” he followed and stopped Brock, and said it was for a vehicle code violation for obstructed driver view because he saw a tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the car’s rear-view mirror, according to the plea agreement.

Three sergeants had encouraged Benza to omit from his incident report that the reason he followed Brock was because he had flipped him off, according to the plea agreement.

“Defendant, aided and abetted by Sergeant 1, intentionally omitted from the Incident Report any reference to Victim E.B. flipping off defendant in order to conceal that defendant had pursued, stopped, and used excessive force against Victim E.B. in retaliation for Victim E.B. flipping off defendant,” the plea agreement said.

Benza also reported that Brock repeatedly tried to bite him, but medical records shared by Brock’s attorney showed the deputy broke a bone in his hand during the attack and a comment following an exam noted “there is no bite marks at this time.” Brock, who can be heard yelling throughout the encounter, previously told CNN he didn’t bite Benza.

“Specifically, the Incident Report falsely stated that Victim E.B. bit defendant’s hand, clenched Victim E.B.’s teeth down with enough force to puncture defendant’s skin, and attempted to rip defendant’s skin from his hand. In reality, Victim E.B. had not done any of these things,” the plea agreement said.

Text messages between Benza and two other deputies included discussions about deleting text messages off their phones and a sergeant’s orders to “toss the phone” ahead of the anticipated federal investigation, according to the plea agreement.

‘You’re gonna kill me’

Brock previously told CNN he was driving to an appointment when he witnessed Benza “behaving in an aggressive manner” toward a woman. The deputy was gesturing wildly and appeared irate, he said.

When Brock drove past, he “flipped him off casually” and continued driving, he said.

He then noticed Benza started following him for several blocks in a residential area, he said. Brock said he did not see any lights or sirens. He called 911 because he was confused and was concerned for his safety. He said the dispatcher said if there were no lights and sirens, he could continue on as normal.

Brock continued to the 7-Eleven and parked in front of the store, where Benza confronted him, he said. In footage provided by Brock’s attorney, in which surveillance video is edited to be synched with audio from the deputy’s body camera, Brock is shown being thrown to the ground by the deputy seconds after exiting his car at the convenience store.

The footage shows Brock parked in front of a 7-Eleven, where Benza confronted him. Benza did not identify himself but told him, “I stopped you,” which Brock said confused him after what the 911 dispatcher had said about not needing to stop if there were no lights or sirens. He replied, “No you didn’t” and moved toward the store when Benza grabbed him and threw him on the ground.

In the video, the deputy approaches Brock and the pair exchange a few words. In the clip, the deputy says, “Come here. I just stopped you” as he approaches Brock. Brock replies, “No, you didn’t.”

Less than 10 seconds after first approaching him, the deputy throws Brock to the ground.

The two men struggle in the parking lot, with the deputy on top of Brock and Brock telling Benza to get off him, yelling, “Stop! You’re gonna kill me!”

As the deputy lies on top of Brock, he can be heard in the video telling him to move his arms behind his back. Brock replies repeatedly that he can’t because the deputy has pinned his hands. Brock told CNN his hands were pinned under his stomach and were stuck because of the weight of Benza on top of him.

At one point, Brock can be heard saying, “I’m a f**king teacher, bro!” and Benza responds, “I don’t care.”

“I punched S/Brock face and head, using both of my fists, approximately 8 times in rapid succession,” Benza wrote in a report following the incident. The report was shared by Brock’s attorney, along with medical records showing the deputy broke a bone in his hand during the altercation.

Brock was arrested for mayhem, resisting arrest causing injury to a police officer, obstructing or resisting a police officer and failure to obey a police officer, Benza’s report says. Prosecutors dismissed their case against Brock in August 2023, according to The Los Angeles Times.

While he was being questioned about the incident, Brock revealed he was transgender, he said.

After the questioning was over, another deputy started aggressively questioning him about his gender, asking him repeatedly if he is a woman, Brock said. He said he tried to explain surgeries he’s had and what medication he was on, but the deputy was not listening, so Brock told him he was identified female at birth.

Brock was then taken to a bathroom with a female deputy and ordered to undress and show his genitals, he said.

He said afterward he was taken to a men’s holding cell and then transferred to a woman’s holding cell. The jail identified his gender as female on jail records despite his legal gender being male for around six years, he added. Jail records from his booking show Brock’s sex listed as female.

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