Long Beach police officers were caught on camera beating a 46-year-old mentally
disabled man who was already on the ground. For months, the man and his wife
have called authorities in order to get help with his undiagnosed mental
illness but to no avail.
"They're supposed to help us, not hurt us," said
Santos Lopez's wife, Lee Ann Hernandez. "I keep telling the police he
needs help, he needs help, he needs help and they wouldn't do anything. And
they turn around and beat him for nothing. That's not right," she said.
Instead of getting help, Santos Lopez was beaten by “authorities.”
According to police, the suspect, Porfirio Santos Lopez,
threw punches toward a group of men in a fight over a beer can outside a liquor
store in Long Beach.
After witnesses called 911, police officers arrived at the
scene of the fight, tasered Porfirio
Santos Lopez, and after he had fallen on the ground, continued to beat him with
a police baton.
Believing that the suspect was either drunk or on meth, and
the suspect apparently resisting arrest, he was continued to be tasered and
beaten at least six times.
"It was way too much. I felt like he was drunk, so they
could have easily gotten him down as many of them as there were," said
witness Mycalneisha Jackson.
One woman, who didn't want to be identified, shot a cellphone
video of the incident and said she thinks the officers abused their power.
Santos Lopez is expected to face charges for resisting
arrest and battery. However, his family is planning to sue the department for
police brutality. Porfirio Santos Lopez is at Long Beach Memorial Medical
Center with broken bones, cuts, and a collapsed lung, according to his family.
“Police say the responding officers didn't know about Santos
Lopez's undiagnosed mental condition at the time of the incident. The officers
remain on active duty as the investigation continues.”
