Batons used to arrest man sister says is mentally ill

A highly graphic video recording of an arrest by Salinas police shows officers beating a man with batons while he's lying on the ground in a lane on North Main Street.

The man was trying to shove his mother into oncoming traffic, according to a police report.

A woman who said she is his sister claimed the man is mentally ill.

Spencer Critchley, spokesman for the Salinas Police Department, said Sunday evening that police are not commenting on whether the man is mentally ill due to privacy concerns.

The incident occurred at 7:14 p.m. Friday at North Main Street and Bernal Drive.

Officers responded to a report of a man screaming, running into traffic and jumping on cars. Police said he then grabbed his mother and tried to push her in front of passing cars.

The first two officers on the scene said they saw the suspect, Jose Velasco, 28, slamming the woman into the pavement of the northbound lane of North Main Street. The victim, Velasco's mother, had called police about him running in traffic. At one point she tried to grab him and pull him out of the roadway, a Police Department release said.

In comments posted on the YouTube video, a woman who said she was Velasco's sister disputed the police account of the incident. Posting as Antoinette Ramirez, she claimed that "He didn't try to kill my mom. ... She walked away just fine."

Officers tried to get Velasco away from his mother but he resisted and attacked them, police said.

Police said Velasco grabbed an officer's Taser and removed it from the holster. Officers then fired a Taser twice at Velasco with no effect. Critchley said the Taser deployed correctly but had no effect on Velasco. By then, more officers showed up as Velasco continued to resist.

It took five officers and use of batons to control him and place him into handcuffs, police said. The video shows two or three officers hitting Velasco while he's on the ground. They stop and appear to be holding him down. Another officer arrives and the video shows him repeatedly striking Velasco with a baton while the others are trying to hold him down.

Critchley said Velasco had his hands under his body and was refusing to show them to officers, which is why the last officer continued to strike him. Officers did not know if Velasco was trying to conceal a weapon at that point, Critchley said, adding that the behavior of officer who struck the final blows as other officers held down Velasco would be reviewed to see if it was justified.

"They used batons to subdue him," Critchley said. "It's the behavior in the moment that needs to be controlled. They were using force because they judge him to be a threat ... They hit him until he stops resisting."

Another post by Ramirez read: "My Poor Brother. He is mentally ill and the cops had no right to keep hitting him he was already on the floor."

Velasco was then taken to Natividad Medical Center for evaluation and treatment of injuries. While en route to the hospital, Velasco battered a police officer and a Fire Department paramedic, police said. He grabbed them through the rails of the gurney and tried to bite them, police said. At the hospital, Velasco had to be "chemically restrained," police said. Once released, Velasco was booked on suspicion of several felony violations and a parole violation.

The video is apparently a cell phone recording taken by a passerby at the incident, according to a news report by the Monterey County Weekly.

Follow Roberto M. Robledo on Twitter @robledo_salnews #salinas. On Facebook, visit: Roberto Robledo community journalist. On Instagram: rrobledo69. Staff writer Katharine Ball contributed to this report.

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Video on YouTube shows Salinas Police subduing suspect (Caution: graphic violence): https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=30&v=bYlcAkv5Sx8