An Elk Grove (California) police officer was fired and his supervisor resigned after the officer kicked an uncooperative robbery suspect in the head while he was placing him under arrest.
The incident began at a Burlington Store store at approximately 8:43 PM on June 5, 2019, after an employee called 911 to report that two robbery suspects had attacked the store’s loss prevention officer, The Sacramento Bee reported.
At least one of the suspects, later identified as 23-year-old probationer Juan Mendoza, became “involved in a physical altercation” with security guards at the department store, Elk Grove Police Chief Timothy Albright confirmed during the video release. Officers arrived at the scene and immediately encountered Mendoza’s accomplice, police said. They ordered him to the ground at gunpoint approximately 10 seconds before a shirtless Mendoza emerged from the store.
What followed was a use of force by an officer that has been determined to be against department policy and not in line with any training provided by our department,” Chief Albright said. Although Mendoza got down onto the pavement, he refused to comply with the officers’ orders to put his arms out to the side, the video showed.
Instead, the suspect kept his arms pinned close to his body, concealing his hands.
“Hands out man,” Officer Schmidt said as he approached Mendoza from the side. “Hey – this isn’t going to be a good day for you – hands out right now, son!” “I’m like ‘Hey, show me your hands, show me your hands, it’s going to be a bad day for you,’” Officer Schmidt told another officer after the altercation. “He was just kind of like smiling, doing that smirk, so I wham and I f–king kick him in his head and I tell him to put his hands out and then start kicking his hands away from his sides. Finally got his hands out.”
Officer Schmidt noted that he wasn’t sure if his boot hit the suspect in the head or in the mouth… Blue Lives Matter
