LA County Sheriff’s Department Probing ‘Disturbing’ Video Footage of Deputies Responding to Alleged Robbery

File photo of police tape. Andri Tambunan/AFP via Getty Images

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has launched an investigation after “disturbing” video footage was captured showing deputies appearing to grab a woman and throw her to the ground while responding to an incident in June in the city of Lancaster.

The incident took place on June 24 as deputies from the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station responded to a report of a robbery at a grocery store, officials said.

“While the Department does not make statements related to ongoing investigations, Sheriff [Robert] Luna has made it clear that he expects Department personnel to treat all members of the public with dignity and respect, and that personnel who do not uphold our training standards will be held accountable,”  the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

“In the interest of transparency with our community, the Sheriff’s Department is releasing body-worn camera video from the incident,” the statement added.

According to law enforcement officials, the two deputies approached a male and female who matched a description they had been given by store security personnel who had called 911.

As the deputies attempted to detain the male and female, the encounter “escalated into a use of force incident that was captured by a community member with a cell phone camera,”  the Sheriff’s Department said.

“The video is disturbing,” the department added.

Body camera footage of the encounter released by police shows the deputies arriving at the scene and approaching a male who is sitting on a rock in a parking lot.

‘I Can’t Breathe’

He can be heard telling the officers, “I told them to call the police,” “I waited for you,” and, “They approached us first, man,” as they ask him to sit down and “chill out.”

Police then proceed to check the man and handcuff him while he tells them, “I don’t have nothing” and, “I’m not even being resistant” and questions why he is being arrested.

The deputies explain the man is not being arrested but is being detained, without offering an explanation as to why. Deputies then force him to the ground, at which point the man tells the deputy that he is “not going to fight him” and that his wife has cancer.

It is unclear who the man’s wife is but at this point, a woman can be seen in the background filming police handcuffing the man.

Separate body camera footage released by police shows one of the officers then approaching that woman and going to grab her as she yells, “You can’t touch me.”

A scuffle then takes place and the woman ends up on the ground, screaming, as the officer repeatedly tells her to stay on the ground.

He eventually grabs hold of one of her hands in an effort to keep her in place while yelling, “Stop or you’re gonna [sic] get punched in the face” but at that point, she yells out “I can’t breathe” and threatens to sue him.

“Stop manhandling me, I didn’t do nothing,” the woman shouts at the officer who then sprays a substance in her face.

She is then handcuffed and placed into the back of a police car, at which point she too tells the officers that she has cancer.

Officials Probing Video Footage

Both the man and woman were cited and released, the Los Angeles Times reported, although it is unclear exactly what they were cited for.

The Epoch Times has contacted Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for further comment.

In its press release, the Sheriff’s Department said it will analyze the body-worn camera video as well as surveillance footage from the store and cellphone video provided by a community member as part of its investigation into the incident.

Both deputies, who have not yet been identified, have been reassigned from field duty pending further administrative review, officials said.

“An objective review of the incident will be conducted to determine if the force used was reasonable, necessary, appropriate, and proportional to the level of actions described,” the statement read. “We take the use of force very seriously and are determined to establish the facts of the incident.”

However, the Sheriff’s Department cautioned that the video footage was being released ahead of the probe and that additional facts regarding the incident may come to light in the coming weeks or months.

A protest over the incident, organized by multiple groups including the Community Action League, has reportedly been planned and will take place at the grocery store where the two individuals were detained, on Wednesday at 5 p.m.