A high-speed chase through the San Gabriel Valley ended in Pasadena on Thursday with a law enforcement officer repeatedly punching a man laying on the ground, KTLA reported.
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San Bernardino County Rancho Cucamonga deputies stopped the fleeing vehicle in Pasadena and have at least three people in custody, according to initial dispatch reports.
The chase began this morning just before 11 a.m. when authorities responded to reports of a burglary at a home near Penrose Place and Oldenberg Court in Rancho Cucamonga, KTLA reports.
The chase proceeded westbound on the 210 Freeway, moving at high speeds, according to Officer Monica Posada with the California Highway Patrol, which assisted the Sheriff’s Department.
The two deputies then crouched next to the man, and one of them began punching him with his right arm.
One of the officers punched the man four times in the torso before climbing on top of him, straddling his back.
Two officers appear to be attempting to restrain the man in the video. A third deputy eventually approaches, and the man is rolled over and restrained.
Huffington Post said that by 11:45 a.m., paramedics were seen loading the Gardner – immobilized on a back board and wearing a neck brace – into an ambulance.
Use-of-force expert Geoffrey Alpert told the L.A. Times that the arrest was excessively violent, but this is “an example of what happens to officers when they’re so angry at the suspect and they lose perspective, and get what we call an adrenaline dump”.
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Bachman said she was not able to immediately comment about any use of force. “There is no justification for those blows”.
