California Cops on Leave After Video Caught Footage of Suspect Punched, Kicked During Arrest

Four California cops have been placed on paid leave after a video surfaced showing the suspect punched and kicked during an arrest last week at a mall.

The Glendale police officers have not been publicly identified, but they are currently under investigation, according to an NBC News report.

The arrest on Saturday at the Los Angeles-area Galleria Mall included three police officers who were wearing plain clothes.

The Glendale Police Department said that their department is aware of the video that captured the incident, which involved officers during the mall, according to their statement.

The police department added that they are held to a high standard and work hard to maintain the trust of the community.

Arrest Footage

The video, which appears to have been recorded by a witness, shows two men in street clothes repeatedly punching a suspect on the ground.

There were onlookers heard in the background. However, they were not shown in the video.

A woman, who was also in plain clothes, restrained the suspect's legs as the two officers punch the suspect in his face and body. The fourth officer, who was in uniform, was seen kicking the suspect in the face.

One of the officers yelled twice after the kick, telling the suspect to turn their face around.

The suspect was not identified by the police. A police spokesman said that the suspect was arrested and accused of resisting arrest and larceny.

One witness claimed that they believe mall security or undercover police were attempting to arrest the man for shoplifting when the uniformed officer arrived and kicked the man, according to a CBS Local report.

Meanwhile, a Galleria Mall spokeswoman said on Wednesday that no mall security officers were involved in the arrest.

Policing Practices

Meanwhile, for the second straight year, only about 27 percent of police departments have shared data to the National Use-of-Force Data Collection program, which was introduced in 2019.

The hesitancy prevails despite a presidential order, congressional demands, and proposed new law requiring police to tell the Federal Bureau of Investigation how often officers use force, according to The Washington Post report.

The FBI had started a national task force to study collecting such data in 2016.

Last year, 5,030 out of 18,514 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies nationwide provided use-of-force data.

In 2019, the numbers slightly increased, making it 5,043 out of 18,514 agencies.

Nancy La Vigne, executive director of the Council on Criminal Justice's Task Force on Policing, said that transparency and police data are what spur accountability.

La Vigne added that when one does not know what use of force cases are happening, it is hard to know if there are any changes or progress.

Chief Steven Casstevens of the Buffalo Grove, Ill. Police Department and a recent president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police said that if they need departments to report their zeros if none occurred.

Casstevens said that zero monthly reports are just as important.

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