Mesa police video shows officers punching, mocking man in drug arrest

Uriel J. Garcia | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Video shows Mesa police punching, later mocking Jose Luis Conde Mesa police body-cam videos from January 2018 show an officer repeatedly punching Jose Luis Conde during a drug investigation.

Mesa police body-cam videos from the January arrest of an unarmed man show an officer repeatedly punching him and another police officer later mocking him as he lies on a hospital floor in a pool of blood.

During a three-minute scuffle, Officer Joseph Mis punched and elbowed Jose Luis Conde, 23, about four times as he and two other officers were trying to pin down Conde and handcuff him, police records and video show.

Police say Conde resisted arrest before officers found cocaine inside one of his socks.

Multiple videos from different officers document two encounters: first a scuffle after a traffic stop and a body search, and later a second incident at a hospital where Conde tried to escape while being treated for injuries.

Conde's criminal defense attorney provided the videos and police reports to The Arizona Republic this week. It is not known whether other records or recordings of the arrest and investigation exist.

Mesa police under microscope

The information surfaced at a time when the Mesa Police Department is under national scrutiny for its officers' use of force.

Mesa police Chief Ramon Batista last week called for multiple investigations into excessive-force allegations, to be completed by local officials and a national police review group. He also changed the department's use-of-force policy to prohibit officers from striking a person's face, head and neck unless that person is being aggressive.

A Mesa police spokesman said Wednesday that department administrators were unaware of the incident involving Conde before The Republic's inquiry.

A fierce struggle

In one video clip from the traffic stop, someone can be heard saying "F--k you" just before Mis punches Conde. Later, as Conde screams in pain, someone tells him to "eat sh-t."

Before Conde fell to the ground, officers had pushed him into a brick wall, causing a cut behind his right ear, according to the police report and video. That cut resulted in Conde's being taken to a hospital.

Police say Conde tried to escape after medical staff stitched his wound.

Officer William Roer wrote in his report that Conde began to sprint through the emergency room as he was being chased by Officer Bryant Clover.

"I observed Officer Clover push Jose (Conde) into the wall and then saw Jose fall head first through the set of double doors leading to another hallway," Roer's report says.

"Officer Clover was able to grab Jose and forced him up against a nearby wall. Jose continued to struggle and was trying to pull away from Officer Clover but in the process was grabbing at Officer Clover's gear.

"During the midst of this, I observed that Jose had begun bleeding profusely from his head."

The aftermath

In another video clip, a hospital worker leads a police officer to Conde. She explained that Conde had tried to get away and was bleeding from his head.

"Bless his little heart,” the officer says.

When the officer arrives to where Conde is lying, he says "aww" as nurses treat a second injury.

"You gotta be a man," the unidentified officer tells him. "Man up."

Bret Royle, Conde's defense attorney who released the videos to The Arizona Republic, said the case is another example of police brutality by the Mesa Police Department.

"If I only play this in the secrecy of a courtroom, the only people who would see it would be myself, a judge, prosecutors and a jury," he said. "I'm not going to diminish the importance of them, but the public should have the opportunity to see what officers are doing behind closed doors."

Nik Rasheta, a Mesa police spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the department had not received a complaint, nor was there an internal investigation that stemmed from Conde's case.

"Based on your inquiry, we are researching the incident," Rasheta said.

In addition to the narcotics possession charge, prosecutors also charged Conde with one count of escape, two counts of resisting arrest and a count of aggravated assault on police.

The aggravated assault count, a felony, stems from Officer Matthew Harris having cuts and scrapes on his knuckles, arms and knees from the struggle with Conde. Mis also had abrasions on his hand and a contusion on his knee, according to the police report.

"It's really salt to the wounds because not only did you beat him up but charge him with the injuries you sustained from beating him," Royle said.

The Jan. 28 arrest

The incident started when officer Harris stopped a vehicle because its headlights were off, the police report says.

During the stop, near Baseline and Sossaman roads, an officer questioned the driver, 19-year-old Edwin Cabanillas of Gilbert. Meanwhile, Harris asked Conde, who was the passenger, to step out of the car.

Cabanillas eventually was arrested on suspicion of DUI and his next court hearing in Mesa Municipal Court is on July 11, online court records show.

Harris said in his report that a records search showed that Conde has been previously arrested on suspicion of drug and weapon charges. Online court records show Conde had pleaded guilty in 2016 to an endangerment and a DUI-related charge, for which he was still on probation.

Harris asked Conde if the officer could search him, to which Conde consented, according to the police report. When Harris felt something in Conde's sock, Conde tensed up and turned on the officer, according to the report.

"His quick, aggressive and violent action was indicative of someone launching an assault," Harris wrote in his report. "I reacted to his body movement by grabbing a hold of his upper body, lifting him off the ground and taking him to the ground."

The videos provided to The Republic show the scuffle between Harris and Conde once they were on the ground.

Harris said in his report that Conde was able to get up and began throwing punches at him. Harris then punched Conde's face but Conde turned away and Harris grabbed onto his body, the report says. Conde then "lost his footing as we made contact with a block wall," Harris wrote in his report.

Pictures of the scene show blood on the brick wall and near a chain-link fence.

'Stop this from happening'

Royle released a statement from Conde in which he says he wanted to come public with his story because he wanted to show how police treated him.

Royle said he doesn't plan on filing either a lawsuit or a complaint. He said the criminal case is scheduled to go to trial July 5, when he plans to persuade a jury to acquit Conde of the charges based on how the officers treated his client the night of the arrest.

"I am asking that something be done to stop this from happening in the future. As it now stands, several officers within Mesa's police force have demonstrated their willingness to hold themselves above the law rather than to protect and serve it," Conde's statement says.

"My hope in sharing my story is to alert the community of the actions of these officers and to bring about change to the culture within the Mesa Police Department."

Other use-of-force cases continue

Seven Mesa officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of two separate and unrelated investigations involving use of force that were captured on video.

In one case, up to five officers kneed or punched 35-year-old Robert Johnson, who was unarmed, when he didn't immediately follow orders to sit down May 23, one of the videos shows.

Mesa Police Department release body cam video of officers punching man In body cam footage released by Mesa police on June 6, 2018, shows officers punching and kneeing Robert Johnson, who is unarmed.

On May 16, two officers appeared to rough up a 15-year-old armed robbery suspect after he was handcuffed, another video shows.

Both cases are being investigated by Scottsdale police, which will forward the case the Maricopa County Attorney's Office who will decide if any charges should be filed against any of the officers.

Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley will also participate in the internal affairs investigation of the two incidents, at the request of Batista.

Mesa police officers curse at, grab neck of teenage armed robbery suspect Video released by the Mesa Police Department shows officers and a teenage boy suspected of committing an armed robbery yelling cursing at each other.

At a press conference on Friday, Batista said that he wants to make sure that his officers don't mistreat anyone from the public after viewing the two videos of the teenager and Johnson.

"Let me be crystal clear, I'm angry and I'm deeply disappointed by what I saw in those videos. It's unacceptable and it needs to stop immediately," he said.

"It's essential when this community interacts with our officers they are treated with the utmost professionalism, no matter the situation," Batista said. "Quite honestly, that's not what I saw in those videos and that will change."

Reach the reporter at uriel.garcia@azcentral.com or on Twitter: @ujohnnyg.

People rally in Mesa to protest police brutality Protesters march down Main Street in Mesa in protest of police brutality on June 8, 2018.

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