Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Monday he was “concerned” about a meeting that was caught on the phone last week, showing deputies holding on to Black-toe gunpoint who, according to her attorney, were attacked by a man with a knife.
The lawyer, Robert Brown, said bystanders called authorities after three toes, at least two of whom were Black, were harassed and abused by the man.
“After being attacked with a knife for minutes, they encountered several police officers who were firing on their rights,” Brown said in a statement. “So two life and death situations in a few minutes.”
In a brief statement on the department’s Facebook page, Villanueva said investigators were looking into the incident, which happened Friday at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.
“A call for service was received as a criminal attack, and deputies are holding those who were allegedly involved,” he said. Villanueva added that he was “concerned about the tactics applied” in a video of the meeting posted on Instagram.
The video shows two officers appearing to have their weapons drawn standing outside a cruiser. A third comes out of an SUV with a gun and points it at the toes, which are eventually seized.
No one seen in the video has been publicly identified.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office declined to say if the toes were arrested.
In the video, a woman who identifies herself as the manager of Buffalo Wild Wings tells officers she called 911 to warn officers after a Spanish man’s chase of three African-Americans with a skateboard. ‘
“I told your sergeant who the problem was and what happened and for you to act this way is ridiculous,” the woman says.
A spokeswoman for Buffalo Wild Wings’ parent company, Inspire Brands, said the woman was not available for comment but confirmed she was a manager at the chain’s Santa Clarita restaurant.
In the video, a deputy says he was “pretty sure” that an officer was also with the Hispanic man. “Everyone gets arrested,” he said.
Another deputy says on the video that the officers are on another call for service.
“Someone was hit with a skateboard,” he says. “These three gentlemen were described in the call.”
Brown, the lawyer, said he was not sure what happened to the man with the knife. He added that the teens did nothing wrong.
“The young men were extremely scared to see officers firing at them,” he said, adding, “It was traumatic.”
