Transgender Man Assault
CORONA (CNS) – A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy who is a resident of Corona has agreed to plead guilty to a federal civil rights charge for assaulting a transgender man who was exercising his First Amendment rights by “flipping off” the lawman, officials announced Wednesday.
Joseph Benza III, 36, who was assigned to the Norwalk Station at the time of the February 2023 incident, was charged late Tuesday with one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law. In a plea agreement also filed Tuesday, Benza agreed to plead guilty to the felony civil rights offense that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Benza — who has been relieved of duty, according to L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna — is expected to make his initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court in the coming days.
The victim of the assault, a 23-year-old man identified in court documents as E.B., who weighed about half as much as Benza, suffered a concussion, contusions and abrasions, according to court documents.
“When an officer violates someone’s civil rights, it corrodes trust in law enforcement and undermines the effectiveness of other officers who sacrifice to protect the public,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “This senseless assault and subsequent attempted cover-up are an affront to our system of justice.”
In his plea agreement, Benza admitted that he was responding to a domestic violence call in Whittier when he saw E.B. drive by and extend his middle finger — an expression that is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
After seeing that he had been “flipped off,” Benza abandoned the domestic violence call and closely followed E.B.’s vehicle for 1.8 miles, intending to retaliate against E.B. with force, according to the plea agreement.
After calling 911 to report that he was being followed, the victim eventually pulled into a parking lot. Benza then parked behind E.B.’s vehicle and activated his overhead lights for the first time, court papers show.
The plea agreement states that Benza approached E.B., who was exiting his vehicle. Without giving any commands, Benza grabbed the victim, who pulled away and said, “Don’t touch me.”
Benza admitted in his plea agreement that he “violently body slammed” E.B. onto the ground, then punched his head and face multiple times, and pressed E.B.’s “face into the pavement.”
Later that day, as he began preparing an incident report, Benza allegedly consulted with other deputies about whether he should include that he began pursuing E.B. because he had been flipped off. Three LASD sergeants counseled Benza to omit that fact from his report, the plea agreement states.
The DOJ contends that, to cover up his civil rights violations, Benza admitted that he prepared a false incident report that omitted any reference to the flip-off and instead misleadingly stated that E.B. was stopped for having an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.
Benza also falsely claimed that E.B. had bitten Benza’s hand with enough force to puncture the skin and cited E.B. with criminal mayhem, prosecutors said.
According to the plea agreement, Benza engaged in other obstructionist conduct by discussing with other deputies how they would delete text messages about the incident from their phones, as well as discussing making false statements to federal authorities who were investigating the incident.
During an interview with federal authorities in January, Benza allegedly made false statements, including denying that he had seen E.B. flip him off and that he had not substantively discussed the incident report with others while he was writing it, federal prosecutors said, adding that Benza admitted that a sergeant drafted substantive portions of the report.
“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,” Luna said. “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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