LA Sheriff Office releases bodycam videos of Isaias Cervantes shooting
Alex: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) released body camera videos of the shooting of Isaias Cervantes, a deaf and autistic man on the night of March 31st. The body camera videos were released last night.
The LASD’s video showed the initial 911 call made by Isaias’ sister about Isaias going through a mental health crisis and being aggressive with their mom.
[Video clip from LASD (full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJ_tvMSLCs ]
Alex: Now here is a clip of two deputies who went to Isaias’ home.
[Video clip from LASD (full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJ_tvMSLCs ]
Alex: You can see that Isaias was angry due to not getting a snack and being told to give up his tablet.
If you remember, the family’s GoFundMe said although Isaias is 25, he has the mental development of a six-year-old.
Both deputies were wearing face masks. The 911 call and the conversation with Isaias’ mother shows that the officers knew he was hard of hearing and had mental issues.
Now, I will show you a clip of the officers’ first approach with Isaias. Keep in mind that Isaias is deaf and the officers were wearing face masks.
[Video clip from LASD (full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJ_tvMSLCs ]
Alex: This is the part where Isaias struggles with the police officers. During this struggle, both cameras fell off the deputies. The captions will not indicate when a gunshot was fired, but there was a gunshot right after a deputy said, “He’s going for my gun!”
[Video clip from LASD (full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJ_tvMSLCs ]
Alex: LASD said Isaias was shot once in the left torso area and that one deputy had facial and eye wounds.
They claimed Isaias tried to push one of the deputies’ gun holsters forward and pull the gun out.
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Alex: The family’s attorney, Austin Dove, said the family is devastated at the “misleading body cam video of his horrific shooting. The video confirms that the LASD entered his home when Isaias was calm and posing no threat, yet the officers escalated the situation ending in the senseless shooting of an unarmed, deaf man with autism.”
There was a demonstration last week by Cervantes’ family and activists who demanded the LASD deputies to be held accountable.
From watching the body-camera videos, there is no indication that officers tried to bring in an interpreter or use pen and paper to accommodate Isaias’ deafness.
I’ve reached out to both the LASD and the attorney about what accommodations were provided. LASD said they couldn’t comment due to the ongoing investigation. With the family’s attorney, I did not get an immediate response.
The full video and local news articles are available at the transcript.
Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJ_tvMSLCs
https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/deaf-autistic-man-shot-by-la-county-deputies