UPDATE (Thursday, Nov. 3): Man seen in violent videotaped arrest in Murrieta charged with felonies

In an arrest captured on video by both a bystander and a store’s security cameras Tuesday night, Sept. 6, Murrieta police struggled to apprehend a man who they say twice tried to take an officer’s gun.

A blurry cellphone video appears to show the suspect being kicked by an officer and hit by a baton while thrashing on the ground – and then, after he goes limp, being hit several more times by the baton.

A woman’s voice close to the camera can be heard saying, “Lord, please do not kill this dude.”

Police said the first officer who encountered the suspect suffered a broken hand, while the suspect ended up with cuts and bruises.

UPDATE: Murrieta police promise thorough review of violent, videotaped arrest

The video was shared on Facebook, including to the Murrieta Police Department’s page, until the person who shot the video asked that it be taken down Wednesday afternoon, according to the woman who posted it, Rosie Vincent. She re-posted the video — in which someone filmed a cellphone as it played the original video of the arrest — later Wednesday night.

Murrieta police Lt. Tony Conrad said police saw the video before it was taken offline the first time, and asked anyone with a copy to call him at 951-461-6309.

“The department reviews all use of force incidents very carefully and with great detail. This incident is no different,” Conrad said in an email.

Late Tuesday, police posted two clips from the CVS store’s surveillance cameras on their Facebook page. The clips show an officer struggling with the suspect, Alejandro Rojo, 22, of Murrieta, inside the store as the incident began.

WHAT POLICE SAY

Murrieta police gave this account:

About 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, a Murrieta police officer was patrolling in the area of the CVS Pharmacy in the 25000 block of Hancock Avenue. A bystander alerted the officer to a man inside the store who appeared to be under the influence of drugs and was creating a disturbance.

The officer entered the store and attempted to detain Rojo, who is listed in jail records as 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds.

Rojo began fighting with the officer, grabbing onto the officer’s holstered gun, police said in a news release. The two fought for possession of the gun inside the store, and the officer was able to radio for help.

The officer eventually was able to break free, and Rojo fled the store. The officer caught up with him, and they struggled again, with Rojo again attempting to disarm the officer, police said.

Additional officers arrived and attempted “multiple force techniques” in an attempt to stop Rojo from attempting to disarm the officer. The news release did not describe the officers’ specific uses of force.

The officers eventually arrested Rojo.

He and the officer with the broken hand were treated for their injuries at medical facilities.

The incident is being reviewed by investigators, and the use of force is being reviewed as a matter of policy, police said.

Employees at the CVS and other stores in the same shopping center declined to comment Wednesday or did not have firsthand information about what had happened.

WHAT VIDEOS SHOW

The CVS security cameras showed an in-store struggle. Neither video has audio.

The first video shows an officer approaching Rojo near a store counter. After a few seconds, he begins to walk away, and the officer follows, then grabs him and they begin to wrestle with each other, both men remaining on their feet.

The second video shows the confrontation continuing for about a half-minute near the store’s front door. The suspect seems to break free. As he runs out the door and disappears from view, the officer reaches toward his holster and chases the suspect.

The bystander’s video, shot in the parking lot after a second officer had arrived and Rojo was on the ground, showed officers kicking him and using a baton to strike him.

As the video begins, Rojo is moving his arms and legs while an officer sits on his chest. A second officer tries to grab his arms, and then kicks him a couple of times. One yells, “Stop resisting.”

Rojo eventually turns over on his stomach, and a third officer, wearing a baseball-style cap, swings a thin baton at the suspect’s head and upper body.

That officer later pushes his head into the ground face first.

Officers and Rojo can be heard yelling. One of two female voices talking as they filmed the confrontation repeats, “Oh my god.”

Rojo tries to rise on his elbows and is hit by the baton again.

At one point, after Rojo turns on his side and stops moving, the officer with the baton takes something from his holster and presses it against the suspect. As Rojo lies limp, the officer picks up his baton and continues to strike him in what appears to be the back or neck area, swinging the weapon with both arms.

The more than 3-minute video ends with more police arriving and surrounding Rojo, who is still on the ground.

CRIMINAL CHARGES

Investigators learned that inside the CVS, Rojo had been tearing open packages of medical supplies and possibly ingesting them before the officer arrived. Investigators are attempting to learn what he ate.

Rojo was arrested on suspicion of attempting to disarm a police officer, resisting arrest causing injury, obstructing a police officer causing injury, battery on a police officer with injury and retail property trespassing. Charges have not been filed.

Rojo was released from Southwest Detention Center in French Valley on Wednesday. Bail had been set at $20,000. He could not be reached Wednesday evening, and relatives at the Rojo residence declined to comment Thursday, saying they were focused on Alejandro, who was not feeling well.

Rojo’s criminal record in Riverside County is limited to three tickets for speeding and one for running a stop sign.

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Staff writers Michael J. Williams and Richard Brooks contributed to this report.