Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) released bodycam video that showed a deputy repeatedly punching a woman who was holding a baby as she resisted arrest on child endangerment charges last year (video below).

The incident occurred in July of 2022 after sheriff’s deputies stopped a vehicle driving without any headlights after dark in Palmdale, an area northeast of Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported.

LASD Sheriff Robert Luna said deputies smelled alcohol on the driver and observed three small children being held on their mother’s laps, rather than strapped into car seats.

Sheriff Luna said deputies arrested the man on suspicion of driving on a suspended license, driving under the influence of alcohol, and child endangerment, the Associated Press reported.

Deputies also detained the four women who were passengers in the vehicle on suspicion of child endangerment, according to the sheriff.

Video showed one of the women asked if she could run home and get car seats, the New York Post reported.

“We’re past that point. We didn’t realize you had that many kids. You guys each have a kid in the backseat without car seats,” a female deputy said in the video.

Bodycam video showed that at least two of the women refused to hand over their babies, the New York Post reported.

“So do you want me to grab the baby or are you going to hand the baby over nicely?” a deputy asked one of the women in the bodycam.

The woman cried and begged in the video but the deputies weren’t having it.

“I don’t want to have to snatch her and have my partners grab your arms,” one of the deputies told her. “That’s the last thing I want to do. But we’re going to take the baby one way or another and I don’t want to be rude about it.”

Then another deputy grabbed the woman’s arms while the other took her baby, the New York Post reported.

The second woman refused to hand over her baby as well, the video showed.

“Y’all are not taking my baby. You’re going to have to shoot me dead to take my baby from my arms. I’m not about to let you take my baby,” she shrieked in the video.

That was when video showed that one of the deputies punched her in the face, twice, and then put her in handcuffs after she turned over the child, the Associated Press reported.

“You punched me, bro!” she yelled in the video. “You’re wrong! You’re wrong! You’re wrong.”

The woman was transported to the hospital and then arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and resisting arrest, KTLA reported.

She was released two days later and no charges were filed.

Sheriff Luna said the incident remained under investigation by the sheriff’s department and the deputy who struck Brown has been relieved of duty pending the outcome, KTLA reported.

LASD officials said they are examining whether the punches violated department policy on use of force.

“What we saw in that video was disturbing,” now-former LASD Sheriff Alex Villanueva told KTLA at the time. “A full investigation is underway, and once it is completed, appropriate administrative action will be taken if warranted.”

The altercation has sparked outrage in the community over the aggressive tactics used with a mother holding an infant.

Activists have demanded that the deputy featured in the video be fired and criminally charged in connection with the arrest, KTLA reported.
The Association for Los Angeles County Deputies (ALADS), the union representing deputies, released a statement that said the video told an incomplete story, the Los Angeles Patch reported.

“The video makes one thing obvious – police work is demanding and unpredictable,” ALADS President Richard Pippin said in the statement.

“Any dispute over the control of infants on the roadway at 12:30 a.m. during an arrest of the driver of the car these children were riding in without proper restraints is a bad situation,” Pippin continued.

“Apparently, our deputies and the on-scene patrol supervisor had determined it wasn’t safe for the children to leave with the parents who were going to be taken into custody. The physical safety of the infants was clearly our deputies’ highest priority as they were seen pleading with the women for a lengthy period,” the statement read.“

There will be a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking, and some will no doubt say that things could have been done differently,” he added. “We will let the public decide that for themselves.”

Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:

LANCASTER, CA — A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s (#LASD) deputy is under fire after the department released video showing him punching a Black woman in the face twice as she held her baby during an arrest last year in #Lancaster, Ca.

“I found the punching of the woman in these… pic.twitter.com/bKUugroIDu

— Jungletography TV 🌹 (@Jungletography) July 13, 2023