Video Shows LAPD Cop Sucker Punch Handcuffed Black Man Who Didn’t Resist

A member of the LAPD sits inside his squad car, parked outside their headquarters on 1st St. in downtown Los Angeles. | Source: Mel Melcon / Getty

T he Los Angeles Police Department ( LAPD ) is investigating an apparent instance of police brutality after viral video footage posted to social media showed an officer sucker punching a Black man who was already in handcuffs, not resisting his arrest and simply asking a question.

The police violence took place on Sunday in the Watts neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles, and while the officer involved has been disciplined, there were no immediate reports of his termination.

The LAPD would only say in a statement on Monday that the police violence followed “a traffic stop on July 28, 2024, in the Southeast Area, involving use of force.”

The brief statement also said the unidentified officer who struck the unidentified Black man “has been removed from field duties.”

The nearly minute-long clip of the police violence offered little context.

The video abruptly begins with the suspect clearly handcuffed as an officer who is not Black stands to his right and another who is Black stands in front of him.

The suspect asked, “What did I do, though?” before the officer standing to his right threw a vicious punch that connected squarely with the Black man’s jaw. To the naked eye, the suspect — who notably didn’t flinch — had already been restrained and did not provoke or threaten the officer who threw the punch.

A bystander filmed the video, in which other onlookers can be heard telling the police they recorded the incident.

The suspect then vowed to “sue” the police and asked the officers to call their supervisor as they steered him toward a squad car.

It was unclear what charges the suspect faced, if any.

Watch the video below.

LAPD officer punches a suspect that was not resisting in the mouth for asking a question
by u/CantStopPoppin in iamatotalpieceofshit

Local civil rights activist Najee Ali told ABC News that he has called on Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a former police officer, to arrest and charge the officer who punched the Black man.

“It’s horrific. This officer does not need a badge or a gun,” Ali said. “He needs handcuffs and a jail cell for what he did. He should be arrested and prosecuted.”

Los Angeles’ enduring legacy of police brutality

The culture of police brutality in Los Angeles , in particular, has seemingly gone unchecked in the decades since Rodney King’s infamous beating in 1991, as evidenced by an unfortunate and telling series of comparable events involving cops in the area.

The horrific footage of King on his hands and knees being relentlessly beaten by multiple California Highway Patrol officers may very well be the first-ever viral video of police brutality, but, as we all know, it was far from the last. In the years since the beating, an untold number of videos similarly recorded by bystanders have shown everything from police intimidation to assault to actual killings.

But that’s not the only thing they have in common with King’s case.

Many times, despite the same type of overwhelming video evidence from King’s police encounter, the officers accused of said brutality are able to successfully claim they feared for their lives and acted out of self-defense.

It is precisely that absence of legal accountability that has allowed instances of police brutality to remain thriving in Los Angeles.

Beyond physical police brutality, officers in the Los Angeles area have been accused of decidedly anti-Black behavior, including in 2021 when two Black teens in Los Angeles County were held at gunpoint by officers responding to their calls for help despite witnesses telling the officers they were innocent.

Not to be outdone, a group of LAPD officers mocked George Floyd ‘s infamous police killing by making a crude joke about it by sharing an image of the unarmed Black man pinned down by Derek Chauvin ‘s knee on his neck in Minneapolis last Memorial Day. The image was accompanied by the message, “You take my breath away,” and was reportedly in a “valentine format” days ahead of the annual holiday of love.

On March 3, 1991, King and two passengers were driving west on I-210 when he was ordered by California Highway Patrol officers to stop. After leading the officers on a high-speed chase, King stopped the vehicle and was the last to exit. As officers reportedly attempted to subdue King, they beat him. The entire act was caught on videotape by a nearby resident.

The mostly white jury could not determine if the officers acted excessively, especially since a small clip of the video was allowable in court. On the seventh day of deliberation, the jury acquitted three of the four accused officers after not being able to determine the fate of the fourth, prompting the “Los Angeles Riots” to begin in April 1992.

This is America.

This is also Los Angeles.

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Family Of Keenan Anderson Sues Claiming Black Man Tased To Death By Los Angeles Police

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