LA County cop who chased down, concussed man over middle finger faces 10 years in federal prison

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - A Los Angeles County deputy is pleading guilty to the Feb. 2023 incident where he brutally beat up a transgender man in Whittier.

In the 2023 incident, surveillance videos showed the deputy, 36-year-old Joseph Benza III, slamming Emmett Brock to the ground in a 7-Eleven parking lot.

Benza agreed to plead guilty to felony civil rights violation for using excessive force and faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

What prompted Benza to lose his cool in the incident from nearly two years ago? It all stemmed from the fact that Brock gave him the middle finger while driving by Benza as the latter was responding to a domestic violence call, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Deputy slams trans man to ground during stop

Surveillance video released from an incident in February shows a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy throwing a transgender man to the ground during a traffic stop allegedly over an air freshener.

According to Brock’s lawyer Thomas Beck during a July 2023 interview, the then-23-year-old had spotted Benza allegedly "berating a woman of color," prompting Brock to flip the bird. The Department of Justice wrote in a press release that Brock’s expression is protected by the First Amendment.