Cops with department at center of racist text investigation allegedly beat up Latino couple

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A Northern California police department at the center of a racist text message investigation is being charged again with misconduct after a couple filed a lawsuit alleging they were beaten during an unlawful arrest.

Juan Laspada and his fiancee, Rebecca Rodriguez, said they were waiting for an Uber outside their friend’s apartment on February 25, 2022, when Antioch police officers stopped and asked if they were okay , according to a federal lawsuit filed Saturday.

They told officers they were fine and waiting for their Uber, according to the lawsuit. The officers, who were not named in the lawsuit, asked to speak to Laspada, he said.

He told them he didn’t want to talk and started walking away. The lawsuit alleges the officers then grabbed him, threw him to the ground, placed him in “a prone position”, punched him repeatedly in the face, body and ear , and hit him with their knees.

He says Laspada was handcuffed and while he was on the ground an officer placed his body weight on the man’s back, “restricting his ability to breathe and causing him to scream in pain”.

In an interview with San Francisco television station KRON, Laspada said he told the officer he didn’t want to talk because the officer seemed crazy.

Juan Laspada is arrested by police on February 25, 2022, as his fiancée, Rebecca Rodriguez, top right looks on. (via Facebook)

I told him, I’m just gonna go ahead and walk away because your veins are sticking out of your neck. You’re crazy, and it’s just gonna turn into something bad. So I’ll go, he said.

“When I went for a walk, he threw me to the ground…and he kept hitting me and hitting me. When I was on the ground and they were hitting me over and over, I I was like, ‘When is it going to stop? When are you going to stop hitting me?'” Laspada told KRON.

Part of the incident was filmed on a cellphone and obtained by the news station. In the footage, two officers appear to be pushing Rodriguez. One of the officers is on top of Laspada as he is on the ground and appears to punch him.

The story continues

The lawsuit alleges that Rodriguez feared Laspada might be killed and begged officers to stop. In response to his plea, one of the officers “punched Rebecca Rodriguez in the face, knocking her to the ground,” he said.

The Antioch Police Department and police union did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Rodriguez was taken to the police station, cited and ordered to appear in court, according to the lawsuit, which says the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges. The prosecutor’s office could not be reached immediately.

Laspada was taken to the hospital where he was assessed and released without charge, according to the lawsuit, which says he had bruises on his body and bleeding in his inner ear. The filing also alleges that officers searched his satchel without a warrant or his consent.

The couple, who identify as Latinx, said they believe the officers racially profiled them, according to the lawsuit.

The majority of the roughly 114,000 residents of Antioch, about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco, are minorities, according to US census figures.

The lawsuit says police had no reason to suspect Laspada of a crime and had no probable reason to arrest him and his fiancé.

“It is alleged in good faith that plaintiff Juan Laspeda was grabbed, knocked to the ground and beaten for exercising his right to interrupt his conversation and walk away from the officer(s),” the suit states.

He further alleges that the officers’ conduct was a knowing and reckless disregard for the risk of injury and that, in the circumstances, there was no objectively reasonable basis for the defendants’ actions.

Laspada, Rodriguez and their lawyers could not be reached. The lawsuit names the city of Antioch and several unnamed officers as defendants and alleges excessive force, unlawful detention, false arrest, unlawful search and racial profiling.

The lawsuit is the latest misconduct complaint against the police department. Earlier this month, an investigative report compiled by the prosecutor’s office was released showing that more than a dozen officers were being investigated for allegedly using racial epithets and slurs. homophobic, shared racist imagery and casually discussed the use of “less lethal” weapons on people, including the city’s mayor, who is black.

The report prompted the Antioch City Council to unanimously approve audits of the department’s internal affairs unit, its hiring and promotion practices, and the department’s culture.

Antioch Police Chief Steve Ford issued a statement condemning the heinous racist content and incomprehensible behavior attributed to members of the Antioch Police Department in the media.

This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com

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