According to the lawsuit, the deputy tried to run Cruz's license through the computer in his squad car, but the system was down so he placed Cruz in handcuffs, had Cruz's car towed, and took him down to the station.

Cruz claims that when he got to sheriff's building, a white officer slammed his head into a wall and then five deputies placed restraints around his legs and assaulted him, causing him to lose consciousness.

The next thing Cruz remembers was waking up in a hospital.

Cruz was charged with assaulting an officer and eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, says Carrillo. But he's hoping the discovery of a videotape of the incident will prove that the officers used unnecessary force and lied about what happened in order to charge Cruz.

"We have the video," says Carrillo. "It shows excessive use of force was used against Mr. Cruz and against an unrelated female who was also there at the time."