Nick Bernabe
February 19, 2015

http://theantimedia.org/cops-say-family-thanked-beating-arresting-h...

(ANTIMEDIA) San Diego, CA — Thankful residents of City Heights appreciated the kind gesture of cops invading their home for no reason, beating and then arresting family members — at least according to a July police report filed after the incident. The family was thankful for being framed for a crime they never committed.

The only problem with this “official story” is that it’s basically completely fabricated.

Police saw two men, Luis and Diego Lobaton, smoking cigarettes “suspiciously” before reentering their own home and place of business to which they had their own keys for. This is when the cops decided that the two men deserved something that they would later be thankful for: thugs with badges forcefully entering their residence, beating, then arresting the brothers, and traumatizing their mother and 3 year-old brother.

But where this story really goes off the rails, according to Voice of San Diego, are the discrepancies between the police report and video footage from the store’s surveillance camera:

— Police say Luis, 21, took a “fighter’s stance” and that Luis attempted twice to hit one of the officers. “Lobaton does not appear to swing or lunge at the officers in the video and actually appears to be backpedaling when an officer rushes inside and begins striking him,” says the Voice report.

— Police say Diego, 20, tried to lock the door to stop officers from going inside. This never happens on the video.

— Police say the boys’ mother, Hedy Julca, tried to pull the door shut when one of the officers attempted to talk to Luis. The video shows Julca opening the door, another officer holding it open, and the cops entering the store.

Watch the surveillance videos below: (skip to 7:00 minutes in both videos to see what really happened)

As you can see, the beating took place in the presence of an infant and an elderly woman, Hedi Julca — who was later charged for a crime in the incident. Police were clearly the aggressors against these innocent people who were literally minding their own business. Thankfully charges were eventually dropped against both her and her sons, and the family is now suing the San Diego Police Department for misconduct.

Despite the public outcry following this incident, San Diego police once again followed one of the brothers into the same store, telling their mother he was “acting suspicious.”

The San Diego police department has come under major scrutiny as of late. San Diego law enforcement (including border patrol, Sheriff’s etc) have killed over 200 people since records of victims of state violence began being kept, according to UAPTSD.org.

San Diego’s police chief recently stepped down amid corruption and misconduct in his force. His replacement, Shelley Zimmerman, has been attempting to ease fears by implementing police “reforms.” One of these “reforms” was the implementation of body cameras for all San Diego police. The cops involved in this incident were conveniently not wearing their cameras at the time, according to witnesses.

This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TheAntiMedia.org. Tune-in to The Anti-Media radio show Monday-Friday @ 11pm EST, 8pm PST. Image credit: Dustin Michelson

Author: Nick Bernabe

Nick Bernabe is the founder and editor of TheAntiMedia.org. He contributes articles to multiple independent news sites and is a San Diego based activist.