If convicted of using excessive force on teen, officer faces three years
A juvenile probation officer accused of using excessive force while acting as a supervisor at Camp Kilpatrick in Malibu pleaded not guilty this week to felony assault charges. Oscar Cross, 59, is accused of the abuse of a minor in connection to the incident in 2020.
Leaked video surveillance shows Cross and four other unnamed officers at the detention center subdue then 17-year-old Beckam Cardona by piling on top of him. Cross can then be seen bending the boy’s legs backward causing him to scream in pain and call out for his mother. Cardona claims he still suffers from pain and trauma. The young man’s lawyers say he was not a threat and showed no signs of fighting back, kicking, or resisting on the surveillance tape. They also claim the probation department tried to cover up what they call an assault on a child. Now an adult, Cardona has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officer in addition to the criminal charges Cross faces filed by LACO District Attorney George Gascon.
Cross remains free on his own recognizance. A date is scheduled to be set Sept. 7 for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to require him to stand trial on the assault under the color of authority charge. He faces a maximum of three years in county jail if he’s convicted.