LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI has opened criminal investigations into violent encounters involving Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, including one in which a deputy punched a woman in the face as she held her baby.
Federal authorities attended the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department headquarters to take documents related to the investigations, according to an email obtained by the newspaper, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.
Department officials confirmed the visit and told the newspaper they planned to cooperate with investigators.
The second case investigated by the FBI involves a deputy who threw a woman by the neck last month in a grocery store parking lot after she began recording an arrest with her cell phone.
In addition to federal investigations, the California Department of Justice has agreed to review the case of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot in the back three years ago by a sheriff’s deputy in the town of Gardena , south of Los Angeles. , says the email.
An FBI spokesperson did not confirm that agents were conducting a criminal investigation into either incident.
Internal county email obtained by the newspaper said “federal criminal investigations have been opened regarding recent incidents” in Palmdale and Lancaster, north of Los Angeles.
The Palmdale case involved a July 2022 traffic stop but only became public this week, when Sheriff Robert Luna called a press conference to release body camera footage and announce that the deputy involved had been relieved of his duties.
The eight-minute video was taken during the traffic stop after Palmdale deputies spotted a vehicle driving at night without any headlights. When they pulled him over, deputies smelled alcohol and saw four women inside, three of them with babies in their arms rather than car seats, authorities said.
Deputies began arresting women suspected of child endangerment and used force against two of the women when they resisted giving up their babies. Most of the video shows a tense conversation between a group of MPs and a woman who holds her baby in her arms as she sits cross-legged on the floor. The deputies are heard saying that the woman was riding in a car driven by someone without a valid license, and that her baby was not in a car seat.
After several minutes of back and forth, the deputies spread the woman’s hands and she begins to scream as the child is pulled from her arms. Nearby, another woman holding a baby starts screaming and cursing at officers before deputies announce they are considering arresting her as well.
As at least two deputies hold the woman by the wrists and arms, a third male deputy can be seen throwing two punches at her head as she still holds her baby. It’s unclear from the video if the punches were related to the woman’s head, but she screams in pain.
The FBI is also investigating a June 24 case when deputies responded to 911 calls reporting a robbery in progress at a Lancaster grocery store. They encountered a man and a woman who they said matched descriptions of the suspects given to 911, authorities said.
As deputies handcuffed the man in the parking lot, the woman began filming with her phone. Within seconds, one of the deputies rushes over to her and reaches for her arm, seemingly in an attempt to pick up the phone.
“You can’t touch me,” she shouts. The deputy throws her to the ground and a video shows him arguing with her and at one point threatens to hit her. He then sprays her face with pepper spray and handcuffs her.
The man who was handcuffed was eventually cited on suspicion of resisting an officer, attempted minor theft and interference with a business. The woman was hospitalized for the effects of the pepper spray and for abrasions to her arm. She was released but cited on suspicion of assaulting an officer, as well as battery on allegations that she assaulted the store’s loss prevention staff, the newspaper said.
Luna has pledged to overhaul the nation’s largest sheriff’s department since taking charge in December.