LASD releases bodycam footage of violent arrest where deputy beats woman holding baby

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna on Wednesday discussed a violent arrest that took place last year in Palmdale, captured on deputy sheriff’s bodycams.

The footage comes from a traffic stop on July 14, 2022, initiated by deputies who claim the car had no headlights on while driving in the area. They claim the driver smelled of alcohol and four other passengers in the vehicle, all women, were holding infants. There were no car seats for the babies in the vehicle.

According to LASD, they decided to arrest everyone in the vehicle for child endangerment, as well as the driver for driving under the influence and with a suspended license, leading to the wild chain of events that followed.

“During the arrests of the females, force was used against two of the women to influence the arrest and gain control of the babies. One of these acts of violence involved a mother and her three-week-old baby, who refused to let her child loose,” a statement from LASD said. “During the encounter, a deputy sheriff punched the woman twice in the face.”

Although the incident occurred during former sheriff Alex Villanueva’s tenure, Luna wanted to raise the incident in light of another violent arrest that received national attention in Lancaster last week.

Luna noted that shortly after the 2022 occurrence, the use of force was assigned to the Department’s Home Affairs Bureau of investigation.

“As your sheriff, I want to speak clearly and directly to our community about this incident. I found the beating of the woman in these circumstances completely unacceptable. Although this incident happened a year ago, before my term as sheriff began, I took action quickly after learning of this incident several days ago. I should note that state law prohibits me from disclosing any disciplinary action taken in this matter,” Luna said.

He said that while he cannot name the deputy, he has since been removed from the work area.

Both the Los Angeles District Attorney and the FBI’s Los Angeles office will also investigate the incident.

Many are calling for the deputy sheriff’s resignation, including several city leaders, including Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Kathryn Barger.

“The violence in this video is abhorrent and has no justification. This deputy sheriff has no place in our sheriff’s department. I trust the sheriff will act quickly to get him fired, and I agree with his decision to continue this case. refer to the prosecutor for criminal charges,” said a statement from the office of regulator Hahn. “I appreciate Sheriff Luna for being transparent with the public and bringing this footage forward, but this video is almost a year old and should have been released immediately by the previous sheriff. I was in favor of our body-worn camera program, but it only works if footage of incidents like this is brought to light.”

“The video footage is heartbreaking. My heart aches for the children we see in this video, and for their mothers. There have been calls in the Antelope Valley for more accountability and transparency. We are seeing some of those calls being answered today” said Supervisor Barger’s statement.”Transparency and accountability start at the top. I want to commend Sheriff Luna for bringing this incident to light. Although this incident is over a year old, Sheriff Luna proceeded to share the video footage with the community as soon as he found out.”