Batons used to arrest man sister says is mentally ill - The Salinas Californian
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. 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. 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. 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. It took five officers and use of batons to control him and place him into handcuffs, police said. Source: www.thecalifornian.com
