Outrage over clip of LA sheriff’s deputies violent arrest of AMPUTEE, with one-legged felon left covered in blood after one cop held him in ‘illegal’ chokehold while second punched his face

Shocking video shows LA sheriff’s deputies putting an amputee in a headlock and slamming him to the ground, leaving the convicted felon bloodied during an arrest.

Authorities are investigating the incident and say the suspect resisted arrest because he had a gun, but his family said police acted with excessive force and protests have arisen over the incident.

Alejandro “Alex” Hernandez, 34, who lost his leg a few years ago, was reportedly washing his truck Monday afternoon when police pulled up and arrested him.

The video shows a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy putting him in a chokehold while another turns back and punches him twice in the face. When the officer pulls away, his knuckles are covered in blood.

Protesters held a rally outside the East LA Sheriff’s Office on Saturday, where Hernandez’s young daughter held a sign that read: “Justice for my father.”

As a deputy pins Hernandez to the ground, the other officer turns back and punches him twice in the face

Protesters gathered Saturday holding signs demanding justice for the amputee (Photo: Hernandez’s daughter)

“He’s a human being,” said Gabriela Ortega, Hernandez’s mother. “I understand they’re doing their job, but the cruelty they did, the beating they gave him, was unnecessary.”

The LA County Sheriff’s Department claims deputies saw Hernandez walking down Floral Drive and identified him as an active gang member.

They further claim that he made movements to suggest he was trying to conceal a weapon.

An LASD spokesperson says officers felt a gun and retrieved a loaded 9mm firearm from his pants. Hernandez resisted arrest, they alleged, so force was used.

On video, the deputy hitting the amputee orders Hernandez to “give up his hands” as Hernandez extends his palms.

His relatives beg the officers to stop beating him as blood runs down his face. When another man starts walking toward him, the officer who punched Hernandez points his gun.

Ortega says she wants police to be held accountable.

“He committed the crime, he did his time,” she said of her son’s previous conviction. “But now he’s been good for so long, and I don’t understand why the police brutality… why was it so necessary to beat him up like that?”

“They say, ‘Okay, he’s a gang member,’ and to them he’ll always be a gang member,” she added.

Ortega has insisted the son did nothing wrong while being detained and accused officers of harassing him before the incident.

The LASD claim officers recognized Hernandez as a former gang member and detained the ex-felon after he made movements that suggested he was trying to conceal a weapon

Supporters of the 34-year-old father claim police acted with excessive force and harassed him prior to the incident

On video, an officer demands that Hernandez “give up his hands” as the man’s arms are held against the concrete

Hernandez’s attorney, Christian Contreras, accuses officers of profiling him.

“The video speaks for itself,” Contreras said. He noted that the deputy held his client in a carotid restraint, which is illegal in California.

“There was no report of a crime, there was no report of ongoing crime, there was no one to call 911 regarding Alejandro.”

The attorney says his client was accused of multiple crimes “and they tried to cover it up by charging him with resisting arrest.” However, the lawyer said it is almost impossible to resist arrest if you are being choked and punched in the face.

“They did that because a lot of people don’t know that if you plead guilty to a crime, you can’t sue the police or the government,” he said.

Contreras plans to file a civil rights lawsuit against the department.

Hernandez remains in custody. He was arrested on pending charges that he was a former felon in possession of a firearm and battery on a police officer of resisting arrest.

The sheriff’s department has launched an investigation into the use of force in this case.

When a witness starts walking toward the scene, the deputy who punched Hernandez pulls out his gun

Ex-con’s lawyer accuses police of profiling him and plans to file civil rights lawsuit

At the beginning of the month, a wave of complaints about police harassment prompted the Civilian Oversight Commission to introduce a topic for discussion at its Nov. 9 meeting.

It addressed the Sheriff’s Department’s lack of policy on the treatment of family members who lost loved ones as a result of deputies’ use of force.

The East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has faced claims in the past that a deputy gang within the agency operates as a “shadow government.”

A 2019 lawsuit filed by eight officers alleged they were targeted by a surrogate gang group known as the Banditos.

According to the indictment, which was filed in conjunction with the ACLU, the Banditos gang “controls the East Los Angeles station like inmates running a prison yard.”