Because of the pervading anti-police sentiment, the man in the viral mobile phone grab video was assumed to be a police. But he was not a cop; he was a deputy U.S. marshal.

It did not help that the man who did it had tactical vests with the word "police" written on the back.

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The victim, 34-year-old Beatriz Paez, told the LA Times that she was walking on Sunday afternoon when she chanced upon 10 people on their stomach and their hands on their head. The men were on a road that was blocked off.

Paez thought she stumbled on something important and took out her mobile phone to film the incident. The deputies started to release the men one by one when she started taking video, reports the New York Daily Post.

One of the deputies forcefully took the cellphone from her hand and threw it to the ground where it smashed to pieces.

The U.S. Marshalls service confirmed it was their deputy involved in the incident but declined to comment further except to state the incident is being reviewed.

Paez told the LA Times, "It's our responsibility to take care of each other ... It's our constitutional right to film."

The video of the phone grab was taken by a South Gate cop. Since the caption on the YouTube video posting of the mobile phone grab mentioned the South Gate officers who were securing the area in relation to an ongoing operation linked to the bikie gang Mongols Motorcycle Club, Capt. Darren Arakawa from the South Gate ordered an investigation.

Arakawa said that Paez did not complain about what happened, but the police is under obligation to investigate.

"We have to explain to people, to residents, that this wasn't a police officer. We keep getting these emails suggesting that we're corrupt," Arakawa said.

Paez, who admitted fearing for her life, said her phone's screen was broken and the deliberate fall caused the gadget not to work. She is trying to recover the video from her phone SIM, according to her lawyer.

TagsU.S. Marshal, mobile phone, bike gang