Beating Victim Allegedly Told by Officer, “I’m beating you because you’re a Mexican”
According to activists who will be holding a protest outside of the West Sacramento City Hall today at 6 pm, on Sunday July 17th, West Sacramento resident Jesus Castro was arrested and had his camera confiscated by West Sacramento police while videotaping an incident of police brutality.
The Vanguard spoke to defense attorney Anthony Palik, who is representing both Jesus Castro and the beating victim, Aristeo Vasquez-Munoz, who will be arraigned on September 13 and charged with battery, resisting arrest and child abuse.
According to Mr. Palik, no one knows the reason for the charge of child abuse.
Mr. Vasquez reportedly asked why he was being beaten and he was told it was because he was Mexican.
The incident itself remains a bit mysterious to Mr. Palik, as he lacks the police report. The incident happened around 8 pm on Sunday night.
The police made an appearance to Mr. Vasquez’s residence for reasons that no one at the apartment complex knows. Mr. Castro was across the street, as far away as 200 feet.
Mr. Palik told the Vanguard that Mr. Vasquez’s story is, “They told him to come outside, he came outside. They told him to lay on the ground. He laid down on the ground and they started beating him with the batons on his leg.”
One of the officers involved was reportedly West Sacramento Police Officer Gill.
“When Mr. Vazquez asked him why he was hitting him with his baton – Mr. Vasquez said he was laying prone on the ground with his hands over his head and was not doing anything to resist – the police officer said, ‘I’m beating you because you’re a Mexican.’ “
“Apparently there were a lot of people who saw this and witnessed it,” Mr. Palik said. “There were a lot of people around… There were a lot of bystanders, mainly people who lived at the apartment.”
It was at this point that one of the officers saw Mr. Castro filming this with his phone, according to Anthony Palik, “He walked across the street and down the sidewalk, and apparently at this point there were a lot of cop cars there and it was getting kind of crowded.”
He confronted Mr. Castro, and Mr. Castro’s sister showed up and told them to leave Mr. Castro alone. Mr. Castro’s uncle was also grabbed by the throat by one of the officers.
“They arrested Mr. Castro, charged him with being drunk in public,” Mr. Palik continued, “he said he had not been drinking for at least seven hours prior to the incident and then he only had one beer.”
He was arrested and taken into custody at that point.
Mr. Castro will be arraigned this afternoon. Community activists are demonstrating today at 6 pm at the West Sacramento City Hall.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
If this man was arrested because he videotaped police beating on a man that was already on the ground and had submitted, then we have a real problem in Yolo County.
Police should not have the ability to randomly arrest someone to cover up police misbehavior. If this story is true, then we do have a “police state” in Yolo County.
David, please stay on top of this story. I would love to know what Mr. Castro videotaped. Also, was there a video from the police car? Or were they out of range?
Where is the videotape of the beating?
David,
If you know how to get in touch with Mr. Castro, tell him he should contact Michael Risher, staff attorney at the ACLU in San Francisco 415-621-2493
There was a similar event in Vallejo where a cop tried to take the phone because someone was videotaping them, and it is not against the law:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/27551276/detail.html
If the story is proved true, the police officer should be fired and criminal charges filed. If the story is proved a lie or if other evidence comes forth that any of the alleged victims’ behavior justified the more aggressive behavior by the cops, then…. what? Oh right, there are no consequences for making false claims of police brutality. What’s an activist to do if there are not enough real events of police brutality? Just sayin’.
Is this the “Gang Injunction at work”?
JB – See CPC section 148.6 (a)(1)
I have posted a follow up, I got a follow statement from the West Police, they tell a different story naturally. I also got Mr. Palik’s response.
Where is the videotape of the beating?
According to the police, his cell phone was book into evidence and they have not attempted to access any video. There is also in car cameras but apparently it only caught audio.
See the new story for the full details.
AdRemmer, thanks for that reference.
[quote]Every person who files any allegation of misconduct
against any peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with
Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, knowing the allegation to be
false, is guilty of a misdemeanor[/quote]
A misdemeanor is better than nothing, but still not much skin in the game considering the gravity of the impacts for wild false claims of police brutality.
Jeff: Given the conditions of his legs, I’d say there is zero chance you will get him on that “knowing the allegation to be false.” Even if the police’s version is completely accurate, I think a reasonable person could argue that was excessive force.
re: excessive force–
They are bad bruises; but they are only bruises. Note he seems to be standing just fine.
Looks like the police were careful not to seriously injure him by just hitting on the fleshy part of the leg; not on the shin-bone or knee (which could indeed cause serious injury; potentially very serious for kneecap!)
I’m not saying it’s trivial; but it’s not a big deal either. I’ve been bruised on the legs pretty badly like that; and walked a little bit wobbly for a couple of weeks, but then was fine (I didn’t even see a doctor).
jimt:
As far as you comment about “they are only bruises”.
Look at those bruises! That man looks like he was ran over by a car. Bruising can cause blood clots and blood clots can travel to the heart, lungs and brain and cause serious health problems.
There is no way that bruising like that can be justified. I think that the DA should file charges on the police officers that did this.
[i]”Jeff: Given the conditions of his legs, I’d say there is zero chance you will get him on that “knowing the allegation to be false.” Even if the police’s version is completely accurate, I think a reasonable person could argue that was excessive force.”[/i]
David: I don’t know enough to accept that point of view. Some people bruise easy. I have fallen off a dirt bike and a jet ski and had bruises that looked like that. They cleared up in a week. Bruising like that is caused by trauma to the skin that breaks some of the tiny blood vessels in the skin. It doesn’t take much to cause it.
I guess there is a larger question about the techniques and tools police use to control certain situations and suspects involved. Put yourself in that position… dealing with a potential gang fight or a bunch of angry drunks. If you have any association with that type of event, then the risks for being treated more harshly by cops responding to a complaint are going to be higher. The cops are going to be more on edge because of the higher risks for things to get out of control. Would it be better that they tazed him, or shot him with a bean bag gun?
Last week driving through Colorado my brother got pulled over going 79 in a 65. The trooper used radar at the bottom of a hill shooting the cars coming down the hill. It was 104 degrees outside. There were three males in the car. We were driving a dark SUV with tinted windows. My brother was agitated. I could see the trooper starting to give it back. I started talking about the weather and thanking him for his difficult job and that was all that it took. At some point we need to all understand that cops have a difficult job to do, and we need to help make it easier for them. I think many of the events you attempt to pin on the cops as being racially motivated are explained by the attitudes and behaviors of the people the cops are dealing with.
The state trooper still gave my bother a ticket. Colorado needs the revenue like most states these days.
[quote]The state trooper still gave my bother a ticket. Colorado needs the revenue like most states these days.[/quote]
LOL Your brother got a ticket because he was doing 79 in a 65 mph speed zone! If your brother had been doing 66 mph, I might agree w your “needs the revenue” concept. Frankly that cop may have saved your brother’s life – 79 mph is not a safe speed to be driving at – just my opinion.
I agree with your comment about treating cops w respect, and that you are less likely to escalate an incident. Reminds me of one time on the way to Santa Cruz. I was driving in extremely heavy traffic, with my three adult children w me in the car. We pulled over to the side of the road to change drivers bc I needed a break. As I got into the passenger seat, a cop car pulled up behind us. The cop got out w his hand on his gun and came up to the passenger side of the car to ask if there was anything wrong. It was a bit frightening, but I realized he would have no way of knowing if we were bad guys or not. I pleasantly explained we were just exchanging drivers, thanked him for his concern, and he relaxed and told us to have a nice day. He then returned to his car and all was well. It was a bit disconcerting when he had his hand on his gun, but a cop’s life is dangerous, and they do have to be careful when approaching a passenger vehicle.
Elaine: This was HW 76. It was part of the HW system that was designed for cars to travel 80 MPH. It was an unfair trap… drivers give the car gas to get over a hill and then tend to exceed the speed limit as the start to go down the other side. My brother actually had the cruise control on and the car slowed back to 70 mph where he had it locked. However, the trooper took the highest reading as the heavy car started to go downhill. There were three trooper cars at a pullout at the bottom of the hill playing “pick off”. My brother was justified in his agitation from a CA perspective. However, in CO, they play cat and mouse and try to catch speeders no matter what the safe limit is and no matter what the reason is. They view it as their job.
My brother made another mistake by not pulling over farther so the tropper was safer from other traffic going by. There wasn’t much traffic in rural Colorado, but we should always be looking for ways to help keep our men and women in law enforcement as safe as possible.
Your story is exactly my point. The cops don’t know when they are in danger and have to approach each encounter assuming the worst. It is up to the public to help put them at ease in these cases.
Oh yeah.. and the car was an Infiniti qx56…
[img]http://www.cscdc.org/miscjeff/infinitycar.jpg[/img]
it was easy to go 79 MPH without thinking about it!
[quote]My brother actually had the cruise control on and the car slowed back to 70 mph where he had it locked. However, the trooper took the highest reading as the heavy car started to go downhill.[/quote]
I get your point – that is the problem with cruise control…