SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The family of a man who they say is a U.S. resident is accusing police in Tijuana, Mexico of killing their loved one.
ABC 10News' media partner Televisa reported that an online video shows a man forced into a Tijuana police pickup truck and was seen and heard in the footage screaming and hanging upside down inside the truck.
The Tijuana medical examiner identified the victim as Jorge Luis Cabrera Velez.
"In the video, you can see they are beating him and they have him hanging in an inhumane way from the truck from his feet with his head hanging. They beat my brother and he tells them to stop,” said the man's brother, Gabriel Cabrera. “Of course, my brother is going to get irate. He was only defending himself. It was them that were extreme."
Mexican authorities say Cabrera Velez was allegedly detained for being under the influence of drugs. Authorities also say his death was related to a suspected home break-in attempt.
"He caused damaged to a door, window and from what we know that caused a laceration on his arm causing an artery to be cut and that is how he died,” said Municipal Citizen Security and Protection Secretary José Fernando Sánchez González.
The State Commission of Human Rights in Mexico is investigating Cabrera Velez's death.
"To be able to attribute or disclaim the responsibility of the authorities that have intervened not only the first response, who from there could arise a series of human rights violations, but also, from the SEMEFO itself, the prosecutor's office and the syndictature to have elements and determine the cause of death, which is what we are still waiting for,” said CEDHBC President Miguel Ángel Mora Marrufo.
"I want those officers to go to jail because not getting punished is the reason why they keep doing what they do,” Cabrera said.
