Family Says Moore Police Beat Father To Death

Saturday, February 15th 2014, 7:55 pm

By: News 9

Three Moore Police officers were put on administrative leave while detective investigate an in-custody death from overnight. The family of the man who died said police beat him badly and they recorded it with a cell phone camera.

Nair Rodriguez and her daughter Lunahi told News 9 they got into an argument at the Warren Theater around midnight. Nair said she slapped her daughter then stormed away. Her husband, Luis, chased after her. That was when the family said officers confronted Luis Rodriguez and asked to see his identification.

According to Lunahi and Nair, he tried to bypass the officers to stop his wife from driving off because she was so angry. They said officers took him down and it escalated.

Lunahi Rodriguez said that five officers beat her father to death right in front of her, in the parking lot of the movie theater.

"When they flipped him over you could see all the blood on his face, it was, he was disfigured, you couldn't recognize him."

By the time it was all over, Nair Rodriguez said that she knew her husband was dead.

"I saw him. His [motionless] body when people carry it to the stretcher," she explained. "I knew that he was dead."

Nair says her husband was only trying to defuse the fight she was having with her daughter. She said when police asked her about it she told them what happened.

"I told them I hit her and he was just trying to reach me. Why didn't they arrest me?"

Lunahi added, "My mom was taking a video and asking, ‘What are they doing this for? Why?' And they didn't give really an explanation."

Rodriguez told News 9 that police took her phone with the recording on it. Another family member provided News 9 with an audio recording she said was taken when that happened. The family hoped Luis would pull through, so they waited for news at the hospital.

"Two hours passed. They finally called her up to say, 'Oh you could see him,' but it turned out it was a lie. They moved his body elsewhere," said Lunahi.

The family told News 9 they would hire an attorney.