On Wednesday (July 12), the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released camera footage showing a deputy striking a woman twice in the face. The incident was said to have taken place during a traffic stop back in July 2022.

According to Sheriff Robert Luna, his predecessor and internal affairs were aware of the footage last year — he’d only just learned of what took place several days prior. “I found the punching of the woman and the circumstances completely unnacceptable,” he said during a news conference. “Maybe in the past, maybe, maybe not, something like this body-worn camera footage would not have been released to the community.”

In an email to the Los Angeles Times, the former sheriff, Alex Villanueva, called Luna’s statements “extremely disingenuous” while explaining that an investigation hadn’t concluded prior to his departure.

“Furthermore, the only reason action was taken… was because the statute of limitation was about to expire,” Villanueva added. “His presser deliberately excluded all footage that showed the struggle to remove the infants from the custody of the suspects who endangered their lives and the context of the deputy’s decision to use force. That very context will most likely preclude any criminal proceedings that would lead to a conviction, so this is nothing more than political posturing.”

In the roughly eight-minute video (above), police can be heard telling a woman that she’s being placed under arrest for not having her baby in a car seat. The officer also claimed that the person who was driving did not have a valid license. As they began to pry the offspring from the mother’s arms, another woman (who was also holding a baby) began screaming at the officials before being restrained. It was at this moment in the clip when a male deputy threw two punches toward that woman’s head. She was still holding a child during the assault.