California sheriff’s department fires the deputy seen on video punching a 14-year-old boy

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department has fired a deputy who was seen in a viral video punching a 14-year-old boy.

“After an administrative investigation (related to the incident), the deputy was terminated from employment,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement to CNN affiliate KCRA.

The deputy has not been identified and the sheriff’s office did not release any other details about the administrative investigation, KCRA reported. CNN has reached out to the sheriff’s department for comment, but has not received a response.

At the time, the sheriff’s department and the Rancho Cordova Police Department told CNN they were investigating use of force by the deputy “in order to gain a complete and thorough understanding of the events that took place during this incident.”

The firing comes after a video surfaced of the April 27 incident in which an officer is seen on top of the teen, punching him as he lies on the ground. It was posted on Twitter on April 28 and within days was viewed more than 2 million times.

In April, CNN reached out to the person who posted the video, but did not receive a response. The video does not show the beginning of the altercation or its conclusion.

According to a statement from the police department and the sheriff’s office at the time, the deputy was patrolling an area of the city after complaints of alcohol, tobacco, and drug sales to minors and “saw what he believed to be a hand-to-hand exchange between an adult and juvenile.”

The deputy lost sight of the adult who left the area, then attempted to detain the juvenile for further investigation, the statement said.

In the Twitter video, a 14-year-old boy is seen lying on the ground on his back. The department said at the time he was “uncooperative” and refused to give out his information. The teen became “physically resistive” causing the deputy to lose control of his handcuffs, when he then attempted to maintain control of the teen while waiting for backup.

According a statement on the police department’s website in April, the teen initially told the deputy he was 18 years old and the deputy later recovered tobacco products from him. The teen was cited and released to his guardians, according to the department, but the statement did not detail charges against the teen.