Authorities ordered an investigation Thursday into a video that shows a group of California deputies kicking and punching a suspect dozens of times, even though he was on the ground and appeared to have his hands behind his back.
Sen Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon called the incident “disturbing” and ordered an internal investigation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The video, captured by a news chopper from local TV station KNBC, shows a man falling off a horse to the ground and being stunned with a Taser. The man is then set upon by as many as 11 deputies who beat him for about two minutes.
The man on the horse, 30-year-old Francis Pusok, was a suspect in an identity-theft investigation, according to the Los Angeles Times. Pusok kicked off a three-hour-long police chase when he fled an Apple Valley, Calif. home where deputies had arrived to serve a search warrant in that case, the newspaper reported.
At one point, Pusok abandoned his vehicle and stole a horse, sheriff’s department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman told the newspaper. Deputies intercepted him and used a taser on him, but the sheriff’s department said the move was “ineffective due to [Pusok’s] loose clothing,” according to the report.
Pusok was taken to the hospital in unknown condition, according to the Times. Two of the deputies were also taken to the hospital for dehydration while a third was treated after being kicked by the horse.
Watch below via local TV station KNBC:
