Prosecutors agree to drop charges against trans man beaten by sheriff's deputy
Prosecutors on Thursday agreed to dismiss their case against a transgender man who was beaten by a sheriff's deputy outside a Los Angeles-area 7-Eleven, then criminally charged for resisting arrest.
Store surveillance footage obtained by The Times showed Deputy Joseph Benza repeatedly punching Emmett Brock as the Whittier man begged for his life. The arrest stemmed from a traffic stop the deputy said was based on an air freshener he'd spotted hanging from Brock's rearview mirror and obstructing the view of the road.
Afterward, the department cleared Benza of wrongdoing but Brock lost his teaching job due to the pending charges against him. On Thursday, he said that news of the dismissal came as a relief and that his lawyer still plans to
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