LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he is launching a criminal investigation to find out who leaked security video of an incident in which a deputy knelt on the head of a handcuffed inmate for more than three minutes.
The Times published video last month of the March 2021 incident and detailed efforts by department officials to keep it under wraps.
Department officials had worried at the time about the negative publicity that could come from a deputy kneeling on a handcuffed man's head, "given its nature and its similarities to widely publicized George Floyd use of force," according to an internal report by a commander critical of the cover-up.
