L.A. Deputy Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Trans Man
The officer admitted to filing a false incident report seeking to cover up his actions following a transgender man's violent arrest.
A deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department agreed to plead guilty to a federal civil rights violation for assaulting a transgender man. Deputy Joseph Benza III, 36, of Corona, California, is accused of using “excessive force” against Emmett Brock, a 23-year-old former high school teacher, during an incident outside of a 7-Eleven.
Benza was charged earlier this week with one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law. In a plea agreement filed on December 17, Benza agreed to plead guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Benza is expected to appear in court in the coming days.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Benza was having a heated conversation with a woman on the side of the road. Brock, who was in a bad mood due to personal reasons, threw up his middle finger while driving by the deputy.
Moments later, Brock noticed a police cruiser — later determined to be driven by Benza — trailing him. Brock took a couple of turns, and the cruiser followed him. At one point, Brock called 911 and told the dispatcher that he was being followed by a police cruiser.
“What is it that you want us to do?” the dispatcher reportedly asked. “If he hasn’t pulled you over, he hasn’t pulled you over.”
Brock cursed and hung up the phone. He then drove to a 7-Eleven on Mills Avenue in Whittier, planning to buy a soda before heading to a therapy appointment. It was at that point that Benza pulled in behind him and confronted him. A store surveillance camera captured the confrontation on video.
In his plea agreement, Benza admitted that he was responding to a domestic violence call in Whittier when he saw Brock drive by and extend his middle finger. He then abandoned the domestic violence call and closely followed Brock for 1.8 miles, intending to retaliate against him.
Upon arriving at the 7-Eleven, Benza approached Brock and, without giving any commands, grabbed him. Brock pulled away and said, “Don’t touch me.”
Benza violently slammed Brock — who weighed about half as much as the deputy — onto the ground. Benza then positioned himself on top of Brock, punching the 23-year-old multiple times and pressing his face into the pavement.
Brock sustained multiple injuries, including a concussion, contusions, and abrasions, according to court documents. He was also placed in a women’s cell, despite telling his jailers he was transgender and had undergone gender confirmation surgery. In a humiliating moment, he was forced to show one of his jailers his genitalia.
Brock was later fired from his teaching position after law enforcement authorities contacted the school where he worked to inform them of his arrest and the charges against him, including three felony counts of criminal mayhem, resisting arrest, and obstruction, and a misdemeanor charge of failing to obey a police officer.
While preparing an incident report, Benza consulted with other deputies about whether he should include that he began pursuing Brock because he had been flipped off. Three sergeants advised Benza to omit that detail from his report.
Benza later admitted to preparing a false incident report omitting the flipping-off incident, which stated that Brock was stopped for having an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.
Benza also claimed in the report that Brock had bitten him with enough force to break the skin — an assertion not backed up by a paramedic’s report or a physician’s assistant at the hospital where Brock and Benza were treated for injuries — to justify charging Brock with “criminal mayhem.”
In addition to the false incident report, Benza discussed with other deputies how they would delete text messages about the incident from their phones, as well as discussions about plans to make false statements to federal authorities investigating the incident.
In January 2024, during an interview with FBI investigators — who were looking into Brock’s allegations of civil rights violations — Benza made false statements, including denying that he had seen Brock flip him off and that he had not discussed the incident report with others while writing it. Benza admitted that a sergeant drafted substantive portions of the report.
Prosecutors condemned Benza’s actions, noting that — despite its crudeness — Brock’s gesturing with his middle finger was a form of exercising his protected First Amendment rights and should not have been stopped by Benza.
“It is deeply troubling that a member of our Department, who has since been relieved of duty, violated the trust placed in them to uphold the law by abusing their authority,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said in a statement, responding to Benza’s guilty plea. “These actions undermine the integrity of our Department, the trust of our community, and the safety of those we are sworn to protect.”
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