New reports about the assault of a transgender man by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy reveal a widespread cover-up.
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Deputy Joseph Benza III, 36, pleaded guilty last week to a felony charge of deprivation of rights in connection with the assault of Emmett Bullock during a traffic stop. The incident occurred in February 2023, when Benza allegedly followed Bullock into a parking lot in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier, where he repeatedly punched Bullock and slammed his head against the pavement.
Benza lied in the incident report, saying he pulled Bullock over because the air freshener hanging from Bullock’s rearview mirror was illegally obstructing the driver’s view, and that Bullock then bit him and Benza felt he was in danger. insisted. Mr. Block was initially charged in the incident, which led to him losing his teaching job, but the charges were dropped after a video was released that contradicted Mr. Benza’s account.
In July 2023, after local media began reporting on the incident, Benza sent a group text message to two other MPs (Rep. C and Rep. D) in which they were asked to ” “We discussed the need to delete the text messages. Anticipated federal investigation.” billing documents From the United States Attorney’s Office.
“Three days later, Deputy C sent a text message to the same group conveying Sergeant 1’s instructions to Defendant BENZA to ‘throw away the phone’, i.e. to delete data from Defendant BENZA’s personal mobile phone,” the document states. It is stated in.
“Prior to Deputy C’s interview with the FBI and United States Attorney’s Office (“USAO”) in September 2024, Deputy C and Defendant BENZA “dumped” Sgt. “Dump the cell phone, including falsely characterizing the message as an instruction to do so.” “Deputy C then confirmed to Defendant BENZA that Deputy C planned to adopt that false narrative when speaking with federal authorities.”
“What’s really crazy is how many other senators there are.” [Benza] Now he says he was involved in a cover-up,” said Kelly Brakinger, who covered this story. Los Angeles Times,I wrote it on thread this week.
“The whole story involves multiple lieutenants and sergeants, none of whom are named in existing filings,” she added. “It’s unclear whether they will be prosecuted.”
Benza will appear in court soon and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. He is no longer with the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
