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A Los Angeles police officer who was caught on video repeatedly punching a homeless man in Boyle Heights two years ago pleaded no contest to assault Thursday, authorities said.
Frank Hernandez, 51, will not serve time in prison for the crime. He was sentenced to two years of probation, 80 hours of community service and a year of anger management classes under the terms of a plea agreement announced during a hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
Officers were responding to a trespassing call on Houston Street in April 2020 and encountered Richard Castillo. They instructed the unhoused man, who was a familiar figure in the neighborhood, to leave an undeveloped lot near a church, according to a statement issued by LAPD at the time.
A video of the incident recorded by a bystander shows Hernandez and his partner confronting Castillo against the lot’s chain-link fence. When one of the officers instructs the man to turn around, Hernandez suddenly tells Castillo to “stop fighting.”
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