10 sheriff’s deputy have been sent on leave when several of them were seen on a video kicking and punching a man following a 2 ½ hour chase which involved a stolen horse, in Southern California.
John McMahon, San Bernadino County Sheriff said on Friday that the video “disturbed and troubled” him and displayed an excessive use of force.
Francis Pusok, 30 had been arrested Thursday by deputies in a brutal encounter which had been filmed by a KNBC-TV helicopter. Pusok had fled by car and eventually on a horse, travelling several miles while the deputies chased him on foot following to serve a search warrant in and identity-theft investigation.
Pusok had been dressed in bright red clothes and fell off the horse as a deputy ran towards him and fired a Taser. The Taser proved to be ineffective as Pulok was in loose attires, according to McMahon.
When the deputies reached up to him, Pusok had been face down with arms and legs widely spread with his hands behind his back. One of the deputies kicked him around his head or shoulder area and punched him while another one kicked his crotch. Moments later the other deputies arrived.
Internal and criminal investigations are already going on and FBI will be starting a civil rights investigation, as announced on Friday.
“I’m asking for some patience while we complete a thorough and fair investigation,” McMahon said. “I am disturbed and troubled by what I see in the video. It does not appear to be in line with our policies and procedures.
“I assure you, if there is criminal doing on the part of any of our deputy sheriffs or any policy violations, we will take action.”
The department has received multiple threats ever since the airing of the video and McMohan said that the deputies which included a sergeant and a detective will not be released until the threats are cleared. The deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave.
After leaving the jail Pusok’s attorneys said that their client is in a lot of pain with a swollen eye and beating marks all over his face and body.
“He remembers being beating, and he remembers that he wasn’t resisting, that he laid still, he complied immediately. He says that he didn’t even move a muscle because he didn’t want to be continuously beat, yet it still happened,” attorney Sharon Brunner said.
After the beating, a deputy whispered in his ear: “This isn’t over,'” attorney Jim Terrell said.
“And that’s why he’s scared to death for himself and his family right now,” Terrell said.
Ken Cooper, a New York-based use of force expert in charge of training police, said it appears the San Bernardino deputies allowed their emotions and adrenaline to get the best of them.
“When chasing a fleeing suspect, in high stress, you have to control that,” he said. “The justification for using force is to gain compliance from the suspect, and the suspect seems to be complying. So what this looks like is those blows are not justified, they’re not necessary and they’re not professional.”
According to Cooper, the officers should be disciplined, retrained to deal with stress, and the video should be used for training.
Pusok has a slew of vehicle code violations and pleaded no contest to a number of criminal charges, including multiple instances of resisting arrest, attempted robbery, animal cruelty and fighting or offensive words, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records.
McMahon said deputies had previously been called to a home where Pusok allegedly made threats to kill a deputy and fatally shot a family puppy in front of his family members. “We were very familiar with his aggressive nature,” McMahon said.
Pusok is being held on suspicion of felony evading, theft of a horse and possession of stolen property.
