L.A. TACO has identified the police officer seen in a viral video sucker-punching a detained man named Alexander Mitchell in Watts over the weekend as Los Angeles Police Department Officer (LAPD) Joshua Sportiello.
The Black officer seen in the video, who was criticized for not condemning his partner’s behavior, is LAPD Officer Luther Lordeus.
L.A. TACO identified the officers—with the help of cop watchers William Gude (Film The Police L.A.) and @WhosThatCop—by combing through nearly an hour of body camera footage that the LAPD quietly released on Wednesday.
“I was concerned by the initial video circulating on social media and immediately directed a full investigation into all facts and circumstances of this incident,” Chief Dominic Choi said in a statement. “Above all, I want the people of Los Angeles to be assured that there will be appropriate accountability.”
The video released by LAPD is currently “unlisted” from their YouTube channel, meaning it does not show up on their page or appear in search results.
The LAPD added a link to the video in an updated press release, posted only on their website, and in a tweet on its @LAPDPIO account that has less than 5,000 followers (compared to its main account, which has more than 250,000 followers.)
The 56-minute video released by the LAPD features two, nearly 30-minute, unedited clips, filmed from each of the officers’ body cameras. In a rare move, the department released video footage within a few days after the incident. Typically it takes the department weeks to release video footage of “use of force” incidents.
To identify the officers, we compared their name tags to a recent LAPD roster and a database of LAPD photos. Facial recognition software was also used to confirm the officers’ identities. Previously, the LAPD has declined to identify the officers when asked, nor did it respond to a request for comment after we presented our findings.
Sahra Sulaiman, a reporter for Streets Blog L.A., used similar methods to identify the officer seen in the viral video as Sportiello, as well.
The footage released by the LAPD sheds more light on a situation that the department waited to respond to until after it went viral.
The footage opens with Sportiello and Lordeus approaching Mitchell near the intersection of 113th Street and Graham Avenue in Watts just before 5:20 PM, while Mitchell sits alone in a double-parked, silver Dodge Charger facing the opposite direction that traffic moves in.
A confused Mitchell questions why the officers approached him.
“What’s going on?,” he asks the officers repeatedly.
The footage shows Sportiello opening Mitchell’s door and Mitchell voluntarily exiting the vehicle. Within seconds of Mitchell setting foot outside of the car, Sportiello grabs him by the arm and says he’s going to pat him down. Lordeus steps in shortly afterwards, as a crowd of people begins to form in the street.
Mitchell maintains that the officers have no right to detain him while the officers struggle to double handcuff him. One of the officers threatens to taser Mitchell shortly before Sportiello socks him in the face.
Notably, the body camera footage does not show a clean angle of Sportiello’s right fist striking Mitchell in the face. About a minute later, the officers secure both sets of handcuffs onto Mitchell.
The footage shows that, from there, the arrest dragged on far longer than what was captured in the video footage that went viral earlier in the week.
Mitchell remains in handcuffs for more than 20 minutes as more officers respond to the scene and bystanders video-recording the incident on their phones emerge onto the street.
During that time, the officers initially ignore Mitchell’s requests for an ambulance after he was punched. Officers then take Mitchell down to the ground. Later, an officer accuses him of over exaggerating injuries he says he sustained while being strapped to a gurney. Officers also ignore Mitchell’s requests to be separated from Sportiello.
“I can’t breathe, I’m finna pass out,” a handcuffed Mitchell yells from the ground after his legs are bound together, while a group of officers surround him.
Eventually an ambulance is called. When the paramedics arrive, Sportiello greets them and admits that Mitchell was punched in the face.
“We’re going to have to put him on a gurney, he’s got punched in the face… having trouble breathing,” he tells a paramedic.
“You’re a great actor,” officer Lordeus says after Mitchell alleges that an officer bent his shackled arm against the gurney.
The body camera footage ends with Mitchell handcuffed to the gurney before he’s loaded into an ambulance.
Mitchell was later transported to a hospital “for medical clearance,” according to the LAPD, before being booked for a misdemeanor.
In a statement, the LAPD alleged that Mitchell “resisted” arrest “by refusing to place his hands behind his back and grasping his front waistband/pocket area with his right hand, preventing the officers from securing him.”
Mitchell was released with a misdemeanor citation and is scheduled to appear in court, the LAPD said. The LAPD declined to comment further.
"I'm outraged,” Mitchell’s mother, An'tneal Harris, said during a press conference on Monday. “ That officer sucker-punched my son while he was in handcuffs. It's horrible. I could have been here planning for a funeral. Something has to be done. It has to stop."
An attorney for Mitchell said the officer who punched their client “does not deserve to remain on the force" and called for the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office to investigate. The L.A. Times reported that the D.A.’s office has not been presented with a case against Mitchell as of earlier this week.
This is the latest incident in which an LAPD officer was caught on camera putting their hands on someone who was handcuffed or detained.
Earlier this year, the LAPD released footage of two officers punching and choking a man who was in handcuffs after the man spat at an officer.
And last year, body camera footage showed a veteran officer choking a suicidal and severely intoxicated music producer who spat at the officer while he was handcuffed to a gurney, after the producer’s loved ones desperately called 911 for help during a medical emergency.
This is a developing story.
