A use-of-force investigation was launched after video surfaced of two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Station struggling to take a man into custody on suspicion of package theft, the department said late Tuesday.
The encounter between deputies and the suspected thief occurred about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday near Jakes Way and Danielson Street in Canyon Country, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Santa Clarita Valley Station deputies were sent to the neighborhood on a call of a package theft, the sheriff's department reported.
Deputies encountered a man near the intersection who was walking with a package. The man said the package wasn't his, and deputies tried to detain him, the sheriff's department said in its statement.
Deputies later determined that the man was wanted in connection with the armed robbery of a U.S. Postal Service carrier about an hour earlier in which "a handgun was simulated," the statement said. More details about the robbery were not immediately available.
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The postal carrier identified the man as the attacker, deputies said.
The suspect was booked at Santa Clarita Valley Station on suspicion of robbery and assault on a peace officer. His name was not immediately released.
No serious injured were reported.
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The video, taken from inside a car across the street, opens with the man above a deputy on the ground. A second deputy appears to pull the man off by using a neck hold, and both deputies struggle to subdue him.
About 20 seconds pass and deputies appear to have control of the man when he begins kicking and temporarily breaks free of the deputies' hold. A vehicle pulls up and blocks the view of the struggle and the video ends.
Anyone who witnessed the case was asked to contact the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station at 661-255-1121. A use of force investigation is ongoing, the department said.
