The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released bodycam video of a violent arrest where a deputy punched a woman holding a baby.
On July 13, 2022, just prior to midnight, Palmdale Station deputies conducted a traffic stop after seeing a car driving at night without headlights. During the traffic stop, deputies smelled alcohol coming from the vehicle. There were also four females and three infants in the vehicle. The infants were being held in the arms of the mothers without the use of child car seats.
As a result, deputies on scene made the discretionary decision to arrest the passengers and the driver for felony child endangerment. The male driver was also arrested for driving suspended license and driving under the influence of alcohol. Additional deputies and a supervising sergeant arrived to assist with the traffic stop.
During the arrests of the females a use of force occurred on two of the women to affect the arrest and gain control of the infants. One of these uses of force involved a mother and her three-week-old infant, who was refusing to let go of her child. During the encounter a deputy punched the female twice in the face.
Though the incident occurred during the tenure of former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna wanted to address the incident in light of another violent arrest that gained national attention in Lancaster last week.
Luna noted that the use of force was assigned to the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau for investigation shortly after occurring in 2022.
“As your Sheriff, I want to speak clearly and directly to our community about this incident. I found the punching of the woman in these circumstances completely unacceptable. While this incident occurred one year ago, before my term as Sheriff began, I took swift action upon learning of this incident several days ago. I must note that state law precludes me from disclosing disciplinary actions taken in this matter,” Luna said.
He said that while he cannot name the deputy, he has since been removed from the field of duty.
Both the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and the FBI’s Los Angeles office will also investigate the incident.