Video of Rancho Cordova police use-of-force incident draws national attention

After video surfaced Monday of a teen boy being forcefully detained by a Rancho Cordova police officer, reaction was swift from public figures and national media outlets.

Celebrities and politicians took to social media Tuesday, sharing the viral video of the 14-year-old boy being pinned to the ground and punched by the officer. At one point, the boy’s head was pushed into the ground as the officer tried to turn the boy on his stomach to handcuff him.

By Wednesday the video had been viewed more than 7 million times on Twitter, and met largely with outrage and calls for accountability for the officer.

U.S Sen. Kamala Harris, former California attorney general and presidential candidate, posted the video to her Twitter feed, saying “This is a horrific abuse of power. This officer must be held accountable.”

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus also shared the video, saying “God almighty, end this violence.”

And San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro shared the video, calling it “sickening.”

“How many of these videos must we see before we do something about police violence in this country?” he said in a Twitter post.

The video incident was also covered by national media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, and BuzzFeed News.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, which has a contract with Rancho Cordova to provide law enforcement, said in a statement that it had launched an investigation into the incident “in order to gain a complete and thorough understanding of the events that took place during this incident.”

The Sheriff’s Office said the deputy had “reasonable suspicion” that the boy had been involved in a criminal hand-to-hand sale and was trying to detain him to investigate further. But the boy allegedly gave the deputy false identifying information and “became physically resistive.”

The video posted to social media is less than a minute long, and shows the deputy essentially sitting on the boy while attempting to gain control of him.

As the video continues, the deputy grabs the teen’s right wrist and pulls his arm in an apparent attempt to turn the teen onto his stomach. The teen appears to resist, and the deputy uses his right hand to push the teen’s face toward the ground as he tries to pull the teen’s right hand behind his back.

Then, the deputy is seen in the video using his right hand to punch the boy and he uses his left hand to hold him down.

The person capturing the struggle on video is heard yelling in an apparent attempt to get the teen and the deputy to stop. “Stop hitting him, boss,” the person with the camera says to the deputy.

At one point, the teen appears to yell out in pain when his face makes contact with a cement curb as the deputy places his hand firmly on the teen’s back.

“It’s important to put video footage into context, especially in relation to a use of force incident,” Sgt. Tess Deterding said in a sheriff’s office statement.

Sheriff’s deputies and Rancho Cordova officers are equipped with dashboard cameras, but not body cameras, so it is unclear if more video evidence of the incident exists.

“This type of situation is hard on everyone - the young man, who resisted arrest, and the officer, who would much rather have him cooperate,” the sheriff’s office said.