COLUMBUS, GA – A video was obtained showing a scuffle with police the day a 30-year-old Hector Arreola died hours after officers tried to restrain him.
Body camera footage from a Columbus Police officer shows the night Hector Arreola died after being arrested for disorderly conduct outside a home on Moss Drive.
Arreola’s family says they find the video disturbing and are wanting justice for their loved one.
“We are hurting and it’s unimaginable that this had happened to Hector,” Arreola’s sister Patricia Ragan said.
Columbus Police Officers Michael Aguilar and Brian Dudley were there because Arreola called for a wellness check on his mother around 4 a.m.
“Your son called and he wanted us to check on you,” one CPD officer says in the video.
Officers later found Arreola outside a neighbor’s home. Things quickly turn south when police say Arreola refused to cooperate.
“Stop, stop, stop I’m not even doing anything they are going to kill me,” Arreola cried out during the scuffle.
“People probably thinking addiction or drugs, in this situation he was asking for help… he was no threat clearly,” Ragan said.
After Officer Dudley and Aguilar took Arreola into custody, another officer arrived at the scene.
*I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe…” Arreola said in the video.
Arreola was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Officer Dudley and Aguilar were placed on administrative leave following this incident and have since returned to duty.
News Leader 9 reached out to the city for comment and they say, “Since it is still an ongoing investigation by the GBI, GBI protocol doesn’t allow the city to speak about it.” the Columbus Consolidated Government said.
The GBI says investigators handed the case to the district attorney’s office in Muscogee County July 5, 2017.
District Attorney Julia Slater declined to comment regarding this incident.
Over a year later and the family of Hector Arreola says they just want answers.
“We want the city to show some type of compassion that this incident really happened,” Arreola’s father Rodrigo Arreola said.
The family’s attorney says a civil lawsuit could be filed against the city, but that decision won’t be made until the GBI and District Attorney release their findings in this case.
Source: http://www.wtvm.com/story/37441531/video-shows-moments-before-columbus-man-was-arrested-later-died