Transgender man brutally beaten by LAPD cop in 7-Eleven parking lot

July 24, 2023

Shocking moment transgender man is brutally beaten by LAPD cop in 7-Eleven parking lot after being accused of ‘flipping the officer off in traffic’

The incident occurred in a 7-Eleven parking lot on Mills Avenue in February, and left 23-year-old Emmett Brock with a concussion. It is now being investigated
It happened during the substitute teacher’s routine home from work, and left him without a job – as he still faces charges in relation to the Feb. 10 incident
He’s admitted to giving the deputy the middle finger before being pulled over – something the cop made no mention of in a report, claiming it was a routine stop

Troubling new video shows the moment a transgender man was violently thrown to the floor and arrested by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy – during a traffic stop ostensibly over an illegal air freshener.

The incident occurred in a 7-Eleven parking lot in Glendale in February, and left 23-year-old Emmett Brock with a concussion and in cuffs.

Moreover, it happened during the substitute teacher’s routine drive from work, and ultimately left him without a job. He still facing charges in relation to the incident, hence his firing.

He’s admitted to giving the deputy the middle finger before being pulled over – something the deputy made no mention of in the report.

Video from the 7-Eleven security camera shows the arrest in full – with Brock not resisting after Deputy Joseph Benza pulled into the lot directly behind him, blocking him in.

The incident occurred in a 7-Eleven parking lot on Mills Avenue in February, and left 23-year-old Emmett Brock with a concussion and in cuffs

Audio and video of the incident captured by the deputy’s body-worn camera provided an even clearer picture, and shows the officer engaging in excessive force for what appears to be no reason.

‘Come here. I just stopped you,’ the deputy is heard telling Brock as he exits the vehicle, approaching the young teacher from behind.

‘No, you didn’t,’ Brock is heard replying as he turns toward the entrance of the store, apparently under the belief the deputy had followed him because of the gesture he had given him shortly before.

‘Yeah, I did,’ the deputy replies – before physically grabbing Brock and tackling him to the floor.

As this is happening, Brock appears frightened and does not once fight back.

‘Oh, my god. What the f**k is happening,’ he is heard saying in the harrowing bodycam footage – released last month but now bolstered by newly released security footage from the convenience store.

It shows the deputy seemingly escalate the encounter almost immediately upon exiting the vehicle, as Brock is seen standing in a non-menacing manner.

Brock has since stated that at this point he was unsure what he had done – and that the officer seen in the footage made no attempt to state why he was placing him under arrest.

For the next three minutes, Brock is seen struggling with the deputy – all while being held down to the pavement and punched repeatedly in the head.

‘You’re going to kill me,’ Brock is heard screaming as he writhes bloodied on the floor. ‘You’re going to f***ing kill me. Help! Help! Help! I’m not resisting!’

‘Come here. I just stopped you,’ the deputy is heard telling Brock as he exits the vehicle, approaching the young teacher from behind.

‘Yeah, I did,’ the deputy replies – before physically grabbing Brock and tackling him to the floor. As this is happening, Brock is seen not resisting and does not once fight back, as cops previously claimed

For the next three minutes, Brock is seen struggling with the deputy – all while being held down to the pavement and punched repeatedly in the head

Brock was cuffed and booked after the attack, and is now facing felony charges of mayhem, resisting arrest and obstruction

At a point, the deputy is seen – and heard – ordering the shaken victim to put his arms behind his back.

However, Brock‘s arms were already pinned under his chest, with all of the officer’s weight pressed over him.

Speaking to the LA Times, Brock later said: ‘Even when I did get them out the way he wanted, he continued to punch me.

‘He just kept saying, “Stop resisting, stop resisting.” I didn’t understand why he was shouting that because I wasn’t resisting,’ he added.

Previously, the Sheriff’s Department cited how two witnesses forward after the incident to state they saw Brock exit his car and struggle with the deputy – with one in particular claiming they saw the young teacher throw and land a punch.

The newly released camera footage seems to discredit that claim – and does not show such an encounter.

Moreover, in an incident report penned by Benza after the incident, the deputy made no mention of being struck by the suspect.

Moreover, it happened during the substitute teacher’s routine drive from work, and ultimately left him without a job. He still facing charges in relation to the incident

Brock’s lawyer, Thomas Beck, said he saw a deputy pulled ‘berating a woman of color,’ so he flipped the deputy off. That’s when Beck said the deputy started following Brock

However, he did write that Brock resisted arrest – and that the force was justified. He said the encounter occurred when Brock fled from his vehicle after being pulled over for an air freshener he had illegally mounted on his rearview mirror.

‘It appeared he was about to walk away from the car and myself,’ Benza, who as of Monday is still employed by the force, wrote as part of an 11-page filing surmising the encounter.

‘His rejection of my traffic detention and his apparent intent to distance himself from his vehicle further raise safety concerns,’ the deputy continued.

‘I know from my training and experience that those who possess contraband items inside vehicles commonly attempt to disassociate themselves from their vehicles when law enforcement is present.’

The deputy went on to concede that he did, in fact, initiate the physical altercation by grabbing Brock’s arm – but said Brock pulled away and ‘cocked his right hand back into a fist, indicative of someone about to throw a punch.’

That led the officer to believe Brock was ‘at the onset of assaulting me,’ spurring him to tackle him to the ground.

He claimed that in the struggle that ensued, Brock ‘continuously tried to bite’ him, leading Benza to punch him ‘approximately eight times in rapid succession.’

The officer wrote of the decision to employ physical force: ‘My punches had their intended effect.’

The report – which resulted in Brock being charged with resisting arrest and two other felonies – made no mention of Brock’s cries for help, or the fact he repeatedly told the deputy he couldn’t breathe and wasn’t resisting as heard in the footage.

Benza instead wrote to his superiors and other city officials that Brock ‘attempted to rip my skin from my hand’ – something he claimed ‘could result in permanent disfigurement.’

Neither a paramedics’ report carried out at the scene nor the newly release footage showed any evidence of such an attack.

Medical records, meanwhile, showed Benza fractured his right hand in a ‘punching injury,’ The Times reported.

Currently fighting the cast, Brock’s lawyer Thomas Beck maintains the encounter transpired after the deputy went into a fit of rage after getting the finger from his client, which Brock said he dished out when he saw the officer ‘berating a woman of color.’

He claims that’s when the deputy started following Brock, eventually into the 7-Eleven lot where the altercation quickly unfolded.

‘He says, “I pulled you over,” and my client turns to him and said, “No, you didn’t,” the attorney told KTLA 5 this week as Brock still faces felony charges of mayhem, resisting arrest and obstruction.

‘[The deputy] already has his hands on him, he takes him to the ground forcibly, injuring his own hand, the deputy’s own hand doing that, which he’s trying to blame on my client, and started pummeling him.’

He added: ‘The video speaks for itself. He was pounding at the kid’s head. He was diagnosed with a concussion later after he was released. This guy committed multiple felonies against my client, and he’s gotten away with it so far.’

Since the video’s release, the sheriff’s department revealed it is now investigating the incident.

‘The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department takes all use of force incidents seriously,’ it said in a statement Monday.

‘The Department is investigating the information and allegations brought forward by Mr. Brock and his attorney. Unfortunately, we cannot comment any further at this time due to the pending litigation in this matter.’

As of Tuesday, Brock was still facing charges.

Four days after the incident, he lost his job after state authorities notified the school of the pending cases against him.

‘I lost so much of myself that day in the parking lot,’ he told the Times Monday as he promised to fight the charges. ‘But I love what I do, and it is kind of how I define myself — and for that to be taken away? It felt like I had just lost everything.’

DailyMail.com has reached out to his attorney for comment.

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