A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of assaulting a 23-year-old transgender man, body-slamming the victim who had just dropped him off, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Joseph Benza III, a 36-year-old Corona resident, was charged Tuesday with deprivation of rights under the law and agreed to plead guilty to federal civil rights violation in a plea agreement filed the same day, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Federal prosecutors said he later also tried to cover up the attack.
The federal charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, prosecutors said. Benza has since been removed from his position, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said in the statement released Wednesday by federal prosecutors.
Surveillance footage shows the deputy grabbing the victim from behind before pulling him to the ground and sitting on top of him. Prosecutors say Benza punched the victim several times in the face and head.
Thomas E. Beck
He was working at the department’s Norwalk station responding to a domestic violence call on Feb. 10, 2023, when he saw the victim, identified only by prosecutors as EB, drive by and give him the middle finger. In the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal prosecutors note that the phrase is protected by the First Amendment.
“After seeing that he had been ‘thrown out,’ Benza left the domestic violence call and closely followed EB’s vehicle for 2 miles, intending to violently retaliate against EB,” the statement reads, citing the plea agreement.
The victim called 911 to report he was being followed and later pulled into a parking lot, where prosecutors said Benza parked behind him and turned on the overhead lights of his patrol car for the first time. Then, according to the plea agreement, Benza approached the victim as he got out of his car and grabbed him without giving any commands beforehand.
As the victim tried to drive away and told the deputy, “Don’t touch me,” Benza body-slammed him, prosecutors said. As the victim lay on the ground, Benza punched him and pressed his face into the pavement, charges prosecutors said he admitted in the plea agreement. The victim suffered a concussion and other wounds, including bruises and abrasions.
Later, when Benza was filling out a report about the incident, he asked other officers if he should mention that he started following the victim because he had turned around. At the time, three LASD sergeants told Benza to omit that fact from the report, according to the plea agreement. Federal prosecutors said Benza later admitted to filling out a false report.
Instead, he wrote in the report that he stopped the victim because, according to prosecutors, an air freshener was hanging from his rearview mirror. He cited the victim with criminal mayhem, prosecutors said, and falsely claimed the victim had bitten his hand hard enough to pierce the skin.
He also discussed with the other deputies how they would delete their text messages about the incident from their phones, according to prosecutors, and later lied to federal authorities who were investigating. The FBI is handling the case.
In agreeing to plead guilty, Benza also admitted to prosecutors that a sergeant wrote “substantial portions” of the incident report, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
“This senseless attack and subsequent attempted cover-up are an insult to our justice system,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the statement, which also included a response from Sheriff Luna.
“It is deeply troubling that a member of our department, who has since been relieved of duty, has violated the trust placed in him to uphold the law by abusing his authority,” Luna said in the statement. “These actions undermine the integrity of our department, the trust of our community and the safety of those we are sworn to protect.”
