A community protested Wednesday after body-worn camera footage of a use of force incident in Lancaster was released earlier this week by officials at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The hard-to-watch incident has triggered anger and condemnation. Demonstrators at the protest claim LASD deputies routinely mishandle minorities and that the deputies involved in this incident need to be fired.
The confrontation happened on June 24 when deputies from the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station responded to the parking lot of a WinCo Foods store, located at 740 W. Ave. K 4, on reports of an “in-progress robbery.”
Footage from the body-worn cameras shows two deputies confronting a man accused of shoplifting from a WinCo Foods store in Lancaster. While deputies detained the man on the ground, his alleged accomplice can be seen filming with her cellphone.
A deputy approaches her and takes her down as the woman yells in protest, saying she did nothing.
“Stop or you’re going to get punched in the face,” the deputy is heard telling the woman before he eventually uses pepper spray on her face while she’s on the ground. She is then handcuffed and later placed into a patrol car.
In a late Monday night news release, the sheriff’s department called the video “disturbing” and said that the incident is currently under investigation. The release also noted that both deputies have been re-assigned from field duties pending additional review of the incident.
“I want to make it clear to all of our community that this investigation is to objectively, and I do repeat, objectively determine if the force used was reasonable, if it was necessary, if it was appropriate and proportional to the level of actions that were described,” LASD Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “And of course, that’s from the deputies’ perspective, what happened in the store; all those things are being investigated.”
Community activists held a protest outside the grocery store at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“We are calling out the police brutality in the Antelope Valley,” Waunette Cullors, one of the activists, told KTLA’s Mary Beth McDade. “They came out and their approach was so aggressive and assertive, [and] in broad daylight. He was so brazen and so confident in snatching her by the neck, slamming her to the ground, putting his knee on her neck and macing her and threatening to punch her in the face.”
At the earlier press conference, Luna said that city, county and state officials are investigating the incident. He added that the man seen in the body-worn footage was cited for resisting and delaying an officer’s arrest and attempted petty theft. The woman was cited for battering an officer, battery and assault of a loss prevention personnel inside the store.
Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is urged to contact the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.