Letters to the Editor: Shocking beating of trans man exposes L.A. County deputies’ brutality — and hypocrisy
To the editor: When Emmett Brock told the staff at the Los Angeles County sheriff’s station in Norwalk that he is a transgender man, he said they asked to see his genitals. And he got a violent beating from a deputy for having an air freshener hanging from his car’s rearview mirror.
It is ironic that the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs said requiring its members to reveal potential gang tattoos with skulls and Nazi imagery would violate the 4th Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches and the 5th Amendment’s protections against self-incrimination.
Dennis Snyder, Long Beach
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To the editor: Sheriff Robert Luna’s rise from the Long Beach Police Department meant this kind of situation, where a deputy beats up an innocent citizen, was preordained.
A do-nothing chief of police in Long Beach, he sat on his hands while his officers were violent with protesters disturbed by the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. But he didn’t bother to have his officers go after the many looters who decimated Long Beach’s downtown.
I’m not saying former Sheriff Alex Villanueva was any better. I am saying that we need to find a sheriff who isn’t already corrupted by the unions that dictate how each force does its job. When we continue to have deputy gangs and innocent people beaten by enraged deputies, we’re in deep trouble.
It’s time to find a real sheriff who is willing to take on corruption. That’s definitely not Luna.
Anne Proffit, Long Beach
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To the editor: Brock never stood a chance. It is appalling to see him exit his car and never get a chance to even ask why he was being followed by a deputy without his patrol car’s lights and siren on.
It is even more appalling to watch this deputy throw Brock to the ground and beat him.
This has nothing to do with being transgender. That comes later with the humiliation at the Norwalk sheriff’s station. I hope to see justice served and for Brock to be able to put the pieces of his life back together.
Olivia Roberts, Hacienda Heights
