Footage has been released showing a Los Angeles deputy brutalizing a 23-year-old
trans man in what the cop alleged was a traffic stop over an air freshener.
You heard that right.
We'll show you some of the graphic surveillance footage in a minute.
But first, more context.
Emmett Brock was driving home from his job as a teacher at
Whittier School on February 10.
During his drive, Brock's lawyer, Thomas Beck,
said he saw a deputy berating a woman of color, so he flipped the deputy off.
That's when the deputy allegedly started following Brock.
He turned down side streets trying to figure out whether the cruiser was
following him.
The deputy did not turn his lights or siren on but made every turn Brock did.
He became so concerned, he called 911 on the police.
Hi, I'm being followed by a police car, he said in a recording.
He told the dispatcher 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 you want us to do?
If he hasn't pulled you over, he hasn't pulled you over.
Two minutes into the call, Brock hung up and
eventually pulled up outside his 711, and the cruiser pulled in behind him.
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, because he didn't.
He stopped on his own to get something at 711.
And the store surveillance camera captured what followed.
Reminder this is very graphic footage.
Viewer discretion advised.
>> Speaker 1: Come here.
I just stopped you.
>> Speaker 2: No, you didn't.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't. Get your hands off and drop.
>> Speaker 2: My God.
What the happening?
What the doing?
Get the get the you're gonna kill me.
My God.
Help me.
>> Speaker 2: Give me your arm.
>> Speaker 2: Stop fighting.
Stop.
I'm not a fight.
Stop.
You're going to kill me.
You're gonna kill me.
Okay, you have my hand.
>> Speaker 1: For three minutes, Brock struggled as the deputy held him down and
punched him repeatedly in the head.
At one point, the deputy ordered him to put his arms behind his back.
But Brock's arms were already pinned under his chest by the deputy, so
he should have been aware of that, considering he's the one who did it.
After Brock was in handcuffs, the deputy put him into the back of his cruiser.
But it wasn't until later that he was given paperwork and
learned why he was supposedly accosted in the first place.
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.
Seems like a great reason to beat the crap out of somebody, if you ask me.
If Benza saw Brock give him the middle finger,
he made no mention of it in his report.
But Brock's attorney thinks he did see it and
that the air freshener was just a cover.
This deputy is a thin-skinned thug, and
what he did to this man on tape proves it, said Beck Brock's lawyer.
We'll get to more details about what happened after that, but
first I wanna pause in the middle here and get your thoughts Cenk.
>> Speaker 3: Yeah, so I wanna break down the cops' excuses, lies,
because we just saw the video.
There's no question about it.
So we're also gonna get to the issue of this person being a trans man.
It becomes relevant when he's taken to headquarters to be booked.
So that's another horrible part of this story, but hold for that.
First, I'm gonna read you some things that that officer wrote, and
then we're gonna look at the tape again, okay?
So bear with me here this is the LA Times.
Benzo wrote as part of an eleven-page incident report, this.
It appeared that he was about to walk away from the car and myself, he says,
yeah, because he was going into the 711.
That's why he got out of his car and walked away from you and into the 711.
But he says this was a reason to assault him.
His rejection of my traffic detention, which he never did, actually.
He never turned on his sirens, never did a traffic detention.
And his apparent intent to distance himself from his vehicle further
raised safety concerns.
He distanced himself from his vehicle because he was going inside 711.
And plus he was scared of you and
he was trying to get away from your weird actions, right?
But how is this a safety concern?
Was he gonna grab a hot dog in 711 and beat you with it?
What kind of insanity is this?
He's writing this in the official report as if these are safety concerns.
He goes on, 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.
He's disassociating himself from his vehicle because he's going inside
711 when you randomly assaulted him and beat the crap out of him.
And it's not random.
It's because he flipped you off.
And I've told you the guys this a million times on the show,
the biggest crime in America is disrespecting a police officer.
It's actually not a crime anywhere.
It's not in any law books.
But if you disrespect a police officer,
especially before cameras were actually I can't.
Believe they're still doing it, these knuckleheads.
The cameras are everywhere, including on you.
But the part of the reason they do it is because their commanding officers always
let them off.
My God.
He flipped you off.
Well, of course, you should have nearly ended his life.
Slam him to the ground, do whatever assault you like of him, okay?
And then we'll call it that he was distancing himself from the vehicle,
which is a new crime we invented and the air freshener.
Get the out of here.
Now, Benza said that Brock pulled away and, quote,
cocked his right hand back into a fist,
indicative of someone about to throw a punch, and
that he had, quote, was at the onset of assaulting me.
So I wanna watch that portion of the video again, and let's see if Brock cocks
his fist, ready to punch the cop, and is at the onset of assaulting him.
Let's watch.
>> Speaker 1: Come here.
I just stopped you.
>> Speaker 2: No, you didn't.
Yeah, I did. >> Speaker 1: Get your hands off of me.
My God.
>> Speaker 3: The cop said that he was worried that he was going
to suffer permanent disfigurement.
Okay, so that's the cop making excuses for himself.
Well, how about his commanding officer?
Did the commanding officer think that it was justified?
He looked at it and said, yeah, quote appears to be justified.
And I'll read you a longer quote from commander Alan Castellano.
This situation was very dynamic and evolving,
which required a split-second decision to be made by Deputy Benzo.
Since it appeared suspect Brock was trying to
avoid being contacted officer safety is paramount.
Yeah, he was trying to avoid being contacted because your maniac officer
attacked him for no reason.
>> Speaker 1: Not devil's advocate Cenk.
I don't think police officers should be allowing civilians to walk or
to distance themselves from a vehicle when parking heading into a 711.
You can understand how complex that situation is.
Studies show that a lot of people trying to enter 711s do so
by entering them, but the cops didn't have that study.
>> Speaker 3: Yeah, and guys, look, so in all seriousness,
are we not allowed to get out of our cars?
Are we not allowed to go into stores?
Like, if a cop doesn't like you for some reason, this is basically saying,
in LA they could beat the living crap out of you for no reason at all, and
their commanding officer will be like, well, I mean,
he did get out of his car, and he was going towards a 711.
We were worried about permanent disfigurement.
You see the video.
These guys are jokers, but
it's not funny because they assault people like this all the time and then go, what?
Send blue line.
Blue lives matter.
Our job is so dangerous.
Well, it's dangerous to us, that's for sure.
Ben's got more.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah, let me read on.
Deciding Brock was at the onset of assaulting me, Benza said
he tackled him to the ground, adding Brock had continuously tried to bite him,
something you don't see in the video, but then again, video lies and cops don't.
Benza then punched him approximately eight times in rapid succession.
Benza's report noted that Brock attempted to rip my skin from my hand.
Never even heard of that as a thing,
which he said could result in permanent disfigurement.
Except a paramedics report from the scene didn't mention any bite marks.
And when Benza went to the hospital later, the emergency room report noted he told
them the bite hadn't broken the skin and there was no bleeding.
And a physician's assistant wrote, there were no bite marks at this time.
The bite marks might have appeared later when the man bit himself to retroactively
create a cover story for himself.
I mean, no blood, no breaking of the skin, no bite marks.
Classic telltale signs of a bite.
Medical records do show Benza fractured his right hand in a punching injury
because he punched an innocent man eight times in the head.
Brock was treated at a hospital for scrapes, bruises, and
a concussion before being sent to a station and booked for three felonies,
including mayhem, resisting arrest, and obstruction.
I'm surprised they did not add on to that.
Distancing himself from a vehicle and the terrible crime of entering a 711 without
written permission from the police department.
He told the staff at the jail that he is a transgender man.
They replied.
So you're a girl?
He said.
One jailer asked.
Brock said he wasn't.
The man asked whether he had a penis, Brock said he did.
He explained what surgeries existed and that he'd been on hormones for years.
After one jailer asked for proof, Brock says he went into
the restroom to show her his genitalia and explain the effects of testosterone.
Nonetheless, he was placed in a woman's holding cell.
Four days later, he lost his job after state authorities notified
the school he taught at of his pending charges.
Brock is now jobless and still facing two misdemeanor charges.
Quote I lost so much of myself that day in that parking lot,
but I love what I do, and it's kind of how I define myself.
And for that to be taken away, it felt like I just lost everything, Emmett Brock.
The sheriff's department says it's now investigating the altercation.
>> Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is what I talk about when we talk about all
the anti-trans bills that are being passed at the local level throughout the country.
So the Republicans first started with trans folks entering bathrooms.
No, we want you to go in another bathroom because we disagree with who you are.
Okay, then they went on to high school sports.
High school sports.
The point I kept making is, are you gonna check the kids genitalia?
Are you guys nuts?
Who's gonna check the kids genitalia?
And people never talk about it cuz it's so uncomfortable, right?
What an incredibly uncomfortable topic.
But guys, here it is in the story.
Yeah, they checked genitalia.
So they're like, okay,
let me see your private parts because we don't believe you.
Because we're gonna just choose not to believe you under any circumstance.
So you have to add that on top of everything else.
Okay, but look at what he was charged with.
That Ben told you.
So you guys watched the video.
Who do you think did the mayhem and obstruction?
Mean, I've got eyes.
The cop did the mayhem, right?
The cop is the one that caused the injustice in the first place.
So I guess in a semantic speaking, he was obstructing justice by slamming this
guy into the ground for no goddamn reason, right?
All that I was offended, and I'm very sensitive.
A lot of cops, man, like, I'm tough.
I'll kick your ass.
I'll kill you.
I'm so tough.
You better listen to my commands.
You've offended me.
I'm such a victim.
Goddamn, the thinnest skin in the world.
In the world.
That's a classic thing with people that thirst for authority, right?
They're like, I am tough.
Alpha male.
The minute you just lightly criticize them.
Flipping off the burn I've been flipped off a million times.
I never went and slammed a guy on the ground for it.
But for a cop, that's how dare you?
I beseech you to reconsider that otherwise, I will slam you into the ground
and then ruin your life by pretending you attacked me and assaulted me.
>> Speaker 1: As a comedian, I consider being flipped the bird a compliment.
You're resonating.
>> Speaker 3: No, but think about that.
How much more thick-skinned are comedians versus cops?
It's not even close.
Shouldn't our cops be more thick-skinned than our comics?
Shouldn't they be able to be being in these incredible and
oftentimes not this at all, right?
But in other times, yeah, sure, they're involved in situations that are harrowing
and dangerous and potentially violent, etc.
And in those situations, I feel bad for them.
But those guys should have a lot of thick skin, right?
To be in the middle of a lot of these controversies and physical altercations.
No, sinnest skin in the world.
And then finally resisting arrest.
Thrown in for every time the cops do a false arrest.
Well, you're resisting my false arrest.
Okay, guys, tell me, what else could he have done?
The guy slams him to the ground and holds him down, and he's like,
give me your arms.
He's like, I'm trying to give you my arms.
They're pinned underneath my chest, and you're sitting on top of me, okay?
They're like, stop resisting arrest.
It's like an Adam Sandler skit, right?
I mean, sir, stop being angry.
I'm not angry, right?
Like, what in the world?
What could he have possibly done?
So now, by the way, they're still trying him.
The cop isn't being tried.
The guy he slammed in the ground is still under criminal prosecution in Los Angeles.
That is, like, mental.
>> Speaker 1: Seems like Sheriff Luna's doing a great job cleaning things up.
>> Speaker 3: Okay, well, so this is why people want criminal justice reform,
but unfortunately, we have none of it.
None of it that happened at the national level.