Added by Nancy
Schimelpfening on February 11, 2014.
A viral video posted online around mid-January
of an alleged incident of police brutality which occurred in Carson, CA has
been drawing outrage on social media.
But what is the full story behind the video?
The original video which
drew such a shocked and indignant response from viewers was actually posted to
YouTube and Live Leak about five months ago.
While some versions of the story claim that the incident just recently
happened, the arrest of the man in the video, Porfirio Santos-Lopez, actually
occurred in early September of last year.
In addition, it didn’t happen in Carson, CA. It actually occurred in nearby Long
Beach. However, the story seems to be
finding new life lately on social media outlets due to the seeming brutality of
the beating and the fact that many falsely believe the incident just took
place.
In the viral video, a group
of police officers surround a man who is lying on his back in the middle of the
street, with one officer repeatedly striking the man with a baton as well as
tasing him what appears to be multiple times.
The bystanders, who seem to be the ones filming the beating, can be
heard exclaiming in the background. At
one point, one of the onlookers comments that the police have knocked the man’s
teeth out. It was later proven, however,
that the man had a dental bridge which had fallen to the ground. Throughout the video, it does not appear that
the man is fighting back and seems to be screaming in pain.
According to police,
however, there was more to the incident than what is seen in the video. They claim that 46-year-old Santos-Lopez had
punched a man in the head during an argument outside a liquor store, and when
they responded to a 911 call about the incident they found Santos-Lopez to be
combative. According to Sgt. Aaron
Eaton of the Long Beach Police Department, the man was acting irrationally and
at one point punched the pavement. When
the officer attempted to speak with Santos-Lopez, according to Eaton, he began
yelling and asked the officer to shoot him.
Adding further context to
the incident, Eaton said empty beer cans were found near the scene of the
arrest. In addition, Santos-Lopez is
said to have told the officers that he had used the drug methamphetamine prior
to the fight.
According to a witness,
Maria Ruiz, who was working nearby at a beauty salon, “It looked like they were trying to arrest
him but he didn’t want them to. He tried
to kick and punch one of the officers and that’s when they took him down.”
Surveillance footage
reportedly confirms this series of events and further shows him dropping to the
ground after appearing to be tasered, followed by two police officers hitting
him at least six times with their batons.
The viral video of the
alleged police brutality begins at this point in the altercation, showing
another round of beating and tasering which took place prior to Santos-Lopez’s
arrest during which the officers were attempting to get him to roll over so
they could handcuff him.
While much of the dialogue
that occurred between the man and the police officers is unclear, at one point
the officers tell the man to roll over on his stomach, to which he responds by
asking “Why?”
According to Eaton, the
batons and Taser are “tools for us to use and get a combative subject into
custody” and they were being used because he refused to comply with their
orders to roll over. “It wasn’t that he
couldn’t understand,” Eaton added. “He refused to go on his stomach.”
Santos-Lopez was eventually
arrested on suspicion of battery, battery on a peace officer, resisting arrest
and public intoxication. He was taken to
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for treatment of “non-life threatening
injuries.”
According to the police,
Santos-Lopez’s arms, legs and maybe his torso were struck by the baton blows
during the arrest. Officers are
specifically trained to avoid the head, neck, throat, kidneys and groin. Greg Meyer, a former LAPD captain and
use-of-force expert who commented on the case at the time, said that the use of
the baton and taser that occurred in the incident did in fact follow proper
protocol. However, Santos-Lopez’s
attorney, Brian Dunn, seemed to indicate that the officers may not have
completely followed protocol. Among the
injuries sustained by Santos-Lopez in the incident, according to his attorney,
were a broken arm and leg as well as a large gash above his hairline
“consistent with a baton strike.” While
some news reports have claimed that Santos-Lopez also had a collapsed lung,
this claim has not been present in all reports.
The claim of a collapsed lung reportedly came from Santos-Lopez’s wife,
Lee Ann Hernandez.
Further adding to the
controversy surrounding the beating is the fact that it appears the man was
suffering from mental illness for which he had not been able to get adequate
help, despite repeated requests for assistance.
All news coverage of the
incident seems to have ended within a few weeks following the arrest so the
Guardian Liberty Voice reached out to Santos-Lopez’s attorney, a member of The
Cochran Firm in Los Angeles who specializes in civil rights litigation with an
emphasis on police misconduct, to determine what happened with Santos-Lopez
case. Thus far, no one representing
Santos-Lopez has been in touch with our staff.
It is also unclear what the results were of any internal investigation
which occurred within the Long Beach Police Department. However, it was reported by one source soon
after the incident that none of the officers were placed on leave.
