A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has been fired after pleading guilty to a federal civil rights violation for using excessive force on a transgender man in a 7-Eleven parking lot last year, and then lying about the incident.

Days after a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy agreed to plead guilty to beating a transgender man for flipping him off, at least eight colleagues have been relieved of duty amid the investigation into an alleged cover-up,

Joseph Benza III, 36, was charged late Tuesday with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for what prosecutors alleged was a 2022 assault on Emmett Brock, then a 23-year-old teacher on his way home from work.