The Los Angeles County sheriff is decrying its deputy in the Antelope Valley after the Sheriff’s Department after bodycam video was released on Wednesday. The deputy punches the Mom in the face twice while she’s holding her 3-week-old infant.
The incident occurred on July 14, 2022, after she and other women with children were arrested on alleged child endangerment after a traffic stop, Sheriff Robert Luna said.
“I found the punching of the woman in these circumstances completely unacceptable,” Sheriff Luna said during a news conference.
Luna said that the driver, reportedly a man, was driving with a suspended license and three of the four women in the car were holding their infant children without using car seats. The car seats reportedly were nowhere to be found in the vehicle.
The video begins around 12:30 a.m. that night, with one woman sitting cross-legged on the street, holding her baby tight to her chest. The woman and the deputies are discussing taking the child from the woman.
“Do you want me to grab the baby or are you gonna hand the baby over nicely,” one deputy is heard asking, adding later, “I don’t want to have to snatch her and have my partner grab your arms.”
Video: L.A. sheriff release video of deputy punching mother in the face in Palmdale
The sheriff was asked why this video was released now Luna said that the incident had been brought to his attention over the weekend by one of his area chiefs who was reviewing the video.
Luna said that while state law keeps him from going into the specifics of any discipline against the deputy seen punching the woman, the deputy was pulled from the field ‘relieved of duty,’ and he referred the incident to the ‘District Attorney’s Office for criminal consideration.’
Credit: NBC, Fox 11, KTTV, ABC Los Angeles