Cellphone video obtained by ABC7 News shows what happened during an incident that is central to a federal civil rights lawsuit against police in Antioch, California.
Rebecca Rodriguez, 29, and Juan Laspada, 30, were leaving a friend's apartment on a Friday evening in February of last year when they were approached by an Antioch Police officer.
"So he was like, 'Are you guys okay?' I said, 'We're fine.' And then we thought that would be it," Rodriguez said.
"He just kept like insisting to speak to me. And I was like, you know, 'I don't need to speak to you. I'm not on probation. I'm not on parole. I don't have to speak to you,'" Laspada said, adding that the officer did not communicate why they were being approached. Things then started to escalate.
"And I did make a comment. Like, you know, 'you look like you're on steroids.' And I want to go walk away. And when I went to go walk away, he grabbed me, because I had to walk down the stairs go past him, slammed me on the ground," said Laspada.
The video, shared to ABC7 by their attorney, shows Laspada on the ground as officers rain down kicks and punches.
"My legs are gonna break. My legs are gonna break. My legs are gonna break, bro," Laspada yelled as an officer crossed his legs while putting his full weight on him.
Rodriguez, and Juan Laspada were arrested, but never charged with a crime. The lawsuit accuses the officers of excessive force, unlawful detention, false arrest, illegal search, and racial profiling.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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