On 12 Oct 2021, Gronk <invalide@invalid.invalid> posted some
news:sk5plt$npo$4@dont-email.me:

> When you pretend to be something you cannot be, expect resistance from
> the rest of society. The cop should have just killed the idiot.

Emmett Brock thought he was dying, and his mind raced. This isn�t
supposed to happen to me. This doesn�t happen this way. I can�t die like
this.

He tasted the blood inside his mouth. He felt the fists land on his
head. And he heard the shouts of the sheriff�s deputy on top of him,
pressing him into the pavement of the 7-Eleven parking lot.

Three minutes later, the 23-year-old teacher sat in the back of a Los
Angeles County Sheriff�s Department cruiser not even knowing, he said,
why the deputy had stopped him.

Brock was sent to the Norwalk station lockup and booked for three
felonies. When he told the staff he is a transgender man, he said, they
asked to see his genitals before deciding which holding cell to send him
to.

That was in February. Brock is now jobless and still facing criminal
charges, all stemming from a traffic stop the deputy said was based on
an air freshener he�d spotted hanging from Brock�s rearview mirror.

The Sheriff�s Department has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks
for two other use-of-force incidents caught on camera, including one in
which a deputy punched a woman in the face while trying to take her
child. In that case, Sheriff Robert Luna condemned the incident as
�completely unacceptable� and relieved the deputy of duty. The FBI is
now investigating.

Read more: Body-cam footage shows Palmdale sheriff's deputy punching a
woman holding her baby

Luna ran on promises of reform and has implemented several changes in
the department since taking office in December. He restored the ability
of oversight officials to access sheriff's databases, turned over
controversial investigations to outside agencies, ordered his deputies
to cooperate with investigations and created an office to �eradicate�
deputy gangs.

Citing the possibility of litigation, the department declined to comment
specifically on the Feb. 10 incident involving Brock, issuing a
statement that said: "We take every use of force seriously, and we do
investigate."

To Brock's lawyer, Thomas Beck, that underscores how far the Sheriff's
Department has to go when it comes to meaningfully holding deputies
accountable.

�They have not changed � in fact, they�ve become more stiffened against
criticism,� he said. �The system that they have in place that they tell
the public guarantees accountability is a farce.�

Before his run-in with the deputy, Brock already was having a miserable
day. He said he'd left his high school teaching job early after a
co-worker had harassed him for being transgender. It wasn't the first
time, and he was getting fed up.

A few blocks from the school, Brock spotted a deputy who appeared to be
having a heated conversation with a woman on the side of the road. As he
drove by, Brock threw up his middle finger. He didn�t even think the
deputy would see it, he said.

A few seconds later, he spotted a patrol cruiser following close behind
him. It made Brock uneasy. He turned down one side street and then
another, trying to figure out whether the cruiser was following him or
just going in the same direction. The deputy didn�t turn on his lights
or siren, but made every turn Brock did.

Growing unnerved, he called 911.

�Hi, um, I�m being followed by a police car,� he said in a recording
shared with The Times. He told the dispatcher that the car was copying
his turns, but not pulling him over. He said he wanted to make sure it
was a "real police car" and that he wasn't being stalked.

The two kept talking, and eventually the dispatcher asked: �What is it
that you want us to do? If he hasn�t pulled you over, he hasn�t pulled
you over.�

Two minutes into the call, Brock cursed and hung up. He kept driving,
pulling up outside the 7-Eleven on Mills Avenue in Whittier, planning to
buy a Coke before heading to a therapy appointment.

The cruiser pulled in behind him, and the store�s surveillance camera
captured what followed. The deputy�s body-worn camera captured the
sound.

Read more: L.A. County sheriff creates new office to 'eradicate all
deputy gangs'

As Brock stepped out of his car, Deputy Joseph Benza approached and told
him: �I just stopped you,� offering no explanation as to why.

Confused, Brock replied, �No, you didn�t.�

�Yeah, I did,� the deputy said. Then he grabbed Brock�s arm and forced
him to the ground.

Still unsure what he�d done, Brock said, he began to scream. �What �
what are you doing? Oh, my god. What the f� is happening?"

For the next three minutes, Brock struggled and screamed as the deputy
held him down and punched him in the head.

�You're going to kill me,� Brock told him. �You're going to f�-ing kill
me. Help! Help! Help! I'm not resisting!�

His mind raced, turning over thoughts of all the things he�d never get
to do in life: Finish grad school. Be a father. Become a professor.

�Help! Help! Help! I�m not resisting!�

At one point, the deputy ordered him to put his arms behind his back �
but Brock's arms were already pinned under his chest.

�Even when I did get them out the way he wanted, he continued to punch
me,� Brock told The Times. �He just kept saying, �Stop resisting, stop
resisting.� I didn�t understand why he was shouting that because I
wasn�t resisting.�

According to the Sheriff's Department, two witnesses saw Brock exit his
car and struggle with the deputy. One of those witnesses claimed that
Brock punched the deputy, which camera footage does not show and the
deputy did not allege.

After Brock was in handcuffs, the deputy put him into the back seat of
his cruiser. At that point, Brock said, he was trying to make sense of
what had happened and why he was on the deputy's radar in the first
place.

It was only later that he learned from paperwork he was given: The
deputy said he'd spotted an air freshener hanging from the rearview
mirror, supposedly obstructing the view of the road from Brock�s black
Honda Civic.

If Benza saw Brock flip him off, he made no mention of it in his report.
According to the deputy�s version of events, the force was justified.

�It appeared he was about to walk away from the car and myself,� Benza
wrote as part of an 11-page incident report. �His rejection of my
traffic detention and his apparent intent to distance himself from his
vehicle further raise safety concerns. 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.�

Though he admitted grabbing Brock�s arm, he said that Brock pulled away
and �cocked his right hand back into a fist, indicative of someone about
to throw a punch.�

Deciding Brock was �at the onset of assaulting me,� Benza said he
tackled him to the ground, adding that Brock had �continuously tried to
bite� him. Benza then punched him �approximately eight times in rapid
succession.�

�My punches had their intended effect,� he added.

He made no mention of Brock�s cries for help, or that he repeatedly told
the deputy that he couldn�t breathe and wasn�t resisting. Instead,
Benza�s report noted that Brock �attempted to rip my skin from my hand,�
which he said �could result in permanent disfigurement.�

Read more: Sheriff Robert Luna backtracks, says fraud investigation was
handed over to FBI

A paramedic�s report from the scene did not mention any bite marks. And
when Benza went to the hospital later, the emergency room report noted
that he'd told them the bite hadn�t broken the skin and there was no
bleeding. A physician�s assistant wrote that there were �no bite marks
at this time.�

Medical records do show that Benza fractured his right hand in a
�punching injury.�

In interviews with The Times, Brock denied biting the deputy, and his
lawyer said it would have been nearly impossible.

�There is no moment that Emmett is not shouting or screaming,� Beck
said. �And you can't talk when your teeth are clamped onto someone's
hand.�

Benza did not respond to a request for comment.

To Ed Obayashi, a former Northern California sheriff�s deputy who is a
national use-of-force expert, the incident raises red flags.

�I just don�t see why this escalated as quickly as it did,� he told The
Times after reviewing the 7-Eleven footage. �It just goes from zero to
100 immediately, and there�s no explanation.�

And after the violence began, Obayashi said, the apparent lack of
attempt to de-escalate the situation � especially once Brock started to
show signs of serious distress � was another point of concern.

�There�s always a problem when you have an individual telling an officer
he can�t breathe,� Obayashi said, adding that he didn�t see or hear any
indication that Brock threatened the deputy.