A Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputy is facing accusations of excessive force after he purportedly slammed a transgender man during an encounter.
Emmett Brock, 24, a biological woman who identifies as a man, alleged the deputy followed for blocks prior to the pair's entry into the parking lot of a 7-Eleven, according to a report.
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An encounter between the two was captured on security film.
In February, a trans man named Emmett Brock flipped off an LA sheriff’s deputy as he drove by.
— Keri Blakinger (@keribla) July 23, 2023
The deputy then tailed him but didn’t pull him over - for an air freshener hanging from the rearview - until he parked at 7-11.
Heres video of what happened next. pic.twitter.com/WzIAPoHupZ
"The video is seared into my brain," Brock, who admitted to flipping off the deputy while driving by a tense scene, said. "I don't need to watch it. I know what happened."
Brock was told to "come here" by the deputy while the latter approached Brock's vehicle, and a dispute over why the stop occurred ensued, the report noted.
"He was never on the radio," Brock said. "No lights. No sirens. The lights came on, I think, when he parks the car behind me. That's the first time I saw the lights."
The encounter turned physical, and the deputy ended up slamming Brock into the pavement.
"In my opinion, that was excessive force," retired LAPD detective and use-of-force expert Timothy Williams said.
"And it didn't have to happen that way."
"I told you to stop. You walked away," the deputy told Brock. "You have a weapon on you?"
"I can't breathe," Brock said. "You're going to kill me."
"Automatically, I see red flags," Tom Yu, an attorney purportedly representing the deputy, said. "The suspect is walking away. He's not been padded down for weapons. He immediately resists, and the fight's on."
Brock is represented by Tom Beck, who maintains Brock was pulled over for having an air fresher on the vehicle's mirror.
"But the moment the suspect resisted, that is no longer an air freshener situation. It becomes, now, resisting arrest," Yu said. "And the suspect bit my client on the hand, and there are photographs of bite marks on his right hand."
An examination of the deputy showed no signs the law enforcement officer was bitten.
"The reports says there's no evidence of a bite," he said. "He's got scraped knuckles. That's it."
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Yu maintains the incident could have been prevented if Brock had stayed in the vehicle and cooperated, the report noted.
All use-of-force incidents are taken seriously, according to the LASD.