Video of Ripon police officers arresting man at skate park goes viral

Ripon police Chief Edward Ormonde issued a statement Friday in response to a video depicting officers using a Taser and baton to subdue a 20-year-old man at a skate park earlier this week.

The video posted on Facebook went viral with about a half-million views in one day.

It started when two officers asked the man for his ID. He refused and eventually began walking away. So the officers grabbed his hands.

The man, identified as Eduardo Maldonado, 20, of Modesto, struggled with the officers, one of whom pulled out a Taser.

As a physical struggle ensued between Maldonado and the officers, a man with the camera walked closer and repeatedly yelled, “You don’t have to pull out Taser, bro.” A woman then ran up screaming hysterically.

The officers told Maldonado to get on the ground multiple times. A third officer arrived and used a baton to strike Maldonado on his right knee as the other officers handcuffed him.

The video did not show what led up to officers’ contact with Maldonado, but Ormonde said in the news release that he was interfering with an unrelated investigation and had been told to leave.

The incident occurred just before 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Curt Pernice Skate Park, to which officers had responded for a complaint of loud and obscene music.

Officers found the man who was playing the music sitting on a bench and informed him of the complaint. Ormonde said the man appeared to be under the influence, so they questioned him further.

Maldonado and another man approached the officers demanding to know why they were speaking with their friend.

The officers told them and requested that they step back, according to Ormonde.

Maldonado refused to leave and yelled at officers, at which point they told him he was being arrested for obstructing an investigation, Ormonde said.

“Maldonado continued to be uncooperative and resist officers while being placed under arrest. Officers did use force to take him into custody,” he said. “Maldonado used force to avoid being taken into custody by striking one officer with an elbow and pushing another.”

Ormonde did not indicate in the news release what force the officers used and did not return calls for additional comment Friday. In addition to the baton, it appears in the video that a Taser was deployed at least once.

A local recording artist who goes by the name Domz posted the video on his Facebook page, which had about 71,000 followers and has since grown to 73,000.

Domz was at the skate park during the incident but didn’t shoot the video.

The shooter and others asked him to post it online because “they know of my power in social media and they knew I had the power to make the video go big,” he said.

Maldonado was booked at the San Joaquin County jail on suspicion of resisting, delaying or obstructing a peace officer. An additional charge of battery on a peace officer has been forwarded to the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office for review.

“As in all use-of-force incidents, the Ripon Police Department conducts administrative reviews of these incidents to ensure the actions of officers fall within department policies,” Ormonde said.

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Video of Ripon police officers arresting man at skate park goes viral."