Investigation Underway after 2 Santa Ana Cops Caught on Camera Beating a Defenseless Latino Man in Unprovoked Attack in Front of His Home

Santa Ana city officials have ordered an external probe of two police officers who are shown in a video circulating on social media throwing a suspect to the ground and beating him.

During a Tuesday night City Council meeting, Mayor Valerie Amezcua said the council voted during a nearly two-hour closed-door session to engage an independent investigator to review the officers’ body camera footage. If the investigation determines the officers caused the suspect, 28-year-old Florentino Junior Lopez, great bodily injury as a result of use of force, the city will release the names of the officers and the related camera audio and video.

The occasionally shaky video posted on social media shows the officers holding Lopez against the hood of a police car.

“All of the sudden, things got out of control,” said Lopez’s attorney, John Kremer.

The footage was captured by Lopez’s younger sister who was outside with her brother smoking on their front lawn Thursday night when the two officers arrived and summoned Lopez out into the street.

After Lopez says something to the officers, he is yanked to the ground and punched repeatedly. The incident ended when two other officers arrived to restore order, at which point Lopez was handcuffed, Kremer said Monday evening.

During the Tuesday night meeting, several council members publicly apologized to Lopez and his family for the incident.

“No member of the Santa Ana community should be brutalized by a police officer,” said Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez. [MORE]