A video captured at the Ripon skatepark Wednesday evening shows a 20-year-old being arrested by police after officers used force to place him into custody.
The video, which shows a subject being involved in several struggles with officers and later being tased, has spread around Facebook, receiving more than 325,000 views as of Friday at 12:30 p.m., along with thousands of likes and shares, including some from Turlock.
In response to the video, the Ripon Police Department issued a press release Friday morning detailing the officers’ account of the incident.
According to the Ripon Police Department, officers responded to Curtis Pernice Skate Park in Ripon shortly before 8 p.m. on Wednesday on the report of a noise complaint. The reporting party told police that the music was loud and contained obscene language.
Upon arrival, officers located the source of the music and contacted a subject sitting on a bench. Ripon police said the subject first refused to comply with officers when told about the complaint and violation, but ultimately provided his ID.
At this time, due to the officers’ observations, police began conducting an under the influence examination of the subject, according to the press release.
While contacting the individual, two additional subjects approached the officers and demanded to know why their friend was being contacted. According to the press release, the officers asked the two subjects to step back after being told about the situation.
One of the subjects, later identified as Eduardo Maldonado, 20, of Modesto, refused to remove himself from the incident and began yelling at the officers, according to the press release.
Due to Maldonado’s alleged interference of the investigation and failure to comply with officers’ directions, officers attempted to identify Maldonado and advise him that he was subject to arrest, said Ripon police.
“Maldonado continued to be uncooperative at which time officers attempted to take him into custody for obstructing an officer,” said the press release.
According to Ripon police, Maldonado remained resistant to officers while being placed under arrest and officers ultimately used forced to take him into custody.
While not detailed in the press release, the video shows officers used a taser on the subject and later a baton was used to hit the subject's leg repeatedly.
“During the act of taking Maldonado into custody, Maldonado used physical force to avoid arrest, with general resistance, striking one officer with an elbow and pushing another,” said Ripon police.
The video begins once officers are talking to Maldonado — who is called “Alex” in the video — and shows the officers asking for Maldonado’s identification and the subject refusing.
Once officers attempt to place Maldonado under arrest, the subject pulls away from their custody and then one of the officers pulls out his taser. When officers attempt to place Maldonado in handcuffs once more, a struggle ensues and the officers and Maldonado fall to the ground, where a struggle continues.
While sitting on a skate rail, Maldonado is told to get on the ground repeatedly and is later tased. Officers continued to demand he get on the ground to which he responds, “I’m getting up so you can put the cuffs on me,” according to the video.
Once standing, officers place the cuffs on Maldonado and attempt to get the subject on the ground. A third officer then comes in with a baton and strikes Maldonado three times on the leg, telling the subject to get on the ground.
Maldonado is then taken to a Ripon police car and placed in the backset.
According to the video’s poster, hip-hop artist named “Domz,” Maldonado broke his tooth during the struggle with officers.
Maldonado was arrested and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail for obstruction, delaying, and resisting a peace officer. An additional charge of battery of a peace officer has been sent to the San Joaquin District Attorney for review.
The Ripon Police Department is conducting administrative review of the incident to ensure the officers’ action fall within department policies.
The full video of the incident can be viewed below.
RIPON CA – This happened yesterday when I was at the skatepark they broke his tooth and arrested him. The cops were called for music being played at skatepark. They came for the kid sitting on Bench playing music. The kid getting attacked had nothing to do with it until he seen the cops messing with his friend (kid playing music). The video shows everything that happened after. IM NOT AGAINST COPS AND I DONT KNOW KIDS IN VIDEO
Posted by Domz on Thursday, July 16, 2015
Video courtesy of Domz – Facebook
These police should be suspended immediately! Another case of abuse of power and they need to be reprimanded for their poor choice of actions. Police are there to PROTECT, not violate rights and be violant!
You obviously don’t know what excessive use of force looks like. Just because you video a person resisting arrest, doesn’t mean those entrusted by the public to gain compliance are out of line.
I saw the video. First of all, the cops did not just randomly stop this guy. The cops were there in response to a call of loud and unreasonable noise which is a violation of section 415 of the Penal Code (Read it!). The person who called the cops thought it was loud and unreasonable, THAT”S WHY THEY CALLED! Personally, I wouldn’t want some moron’s boom-box blasting obscenities, pretending to be music, in a park where my toddler was playing. I’m not sure what this dude’s connection was with the loud noise but it seems reasonable to me that the cops would have to find out, THAT”S THEIR JOB! I’m guessing this dude was drunk or high and this was probably obvious to the cops because the dude was not only not cooperating but when the taser was placed against his back, I think, on the video, I heard the clicking indicating the taser was activated and the dude showed no reaction at all! Normal, sober people who are not “brain dead” pinheads will usually react to being jolted with electricity. Drunken, drugged out, “feeling no pain” idiots sometimes do not! All the guy had to do was cooperate. The dude’s lack of cooperation? Another clear sign of drunkenness, being drugged-out and just plain being stupid! The fact that he did not follow simple directions when asked to do so is also a violation of the law. Section 148 of the Penal Code (READ IT!) And why wasn’t that ignoramus who was yelling at the cops not to taser the dude not instead yelling at his idiot friend to just chill-out and JUST COOPERATE! Those cops showed a lot of restraint. The cop at the end who tapped the dude on the leg? To me, that looked like just a warning. He didn’t even wind-up. I think he would have been justified swinging higher and for the center field fence. He could have at least gone over and smashed up the boom-box! Better yet, call the Fire dept next time and have them bring out a fire ax for the boom box!
Totally appropriate.
Take it to court
I recently got arrested for filming RiponPD break several laws imprisoning me towing my car for filming a citizen of the U.S. get his amendments broken and slandering my name in the manteca bulletin saying I assaulted officers phone taken as evidence to go to court and have the DA tell me theyre ready to dismiss case ig i say they had probable cause so whod in wrong easy to wash your hands when the judge and DA and police all eat at the same table corrupt central valley
If he would have cooperated and acted his age non of that would have happened. But noooo he had to act like a tough guy, sooo good job Ripon P.d.
Those kids were jerks. even that dumb girl who tried to grab the cop, so stupid. I think the police showed pretty good restraint
Poorly trained cops, not 100% justifiable. Dude was not complying, but being reasonable. The hitting him with the stick while they were putting handcuffs on him was a clear sign that those cops need better training. And that one billy club-happy cop should ease up on the donuts…
he was being a smart ass. young people these days need to shut their mouths around cops.
Great job Ripon police.. I thought they were being nice?
Look at you with your 48% body fat.
Excellent job by Ripon PD. They showed great restraint in dealing with noncompliant suspect.
Gave that guy way too many chances. People need to do what they are told and stop challenging authority. Great job by Ripon Police. Hope their local government stands behind their outstanding officers.
Anyone supporting the actions of these cops has less than half a brain in their skull. That that man did not have to show any identification because he was not accused of doing any crime he did not have to show ID was not accused of a crime he was not doing anything illegal and want being detained, there’s no reason to stop or arrest him for anything those cops were way out of line.
He didnt have to show id to knowbody not even cops wat they did was wrong even tho he was acting like a lil kid talkin back he should of showed respect and respect would of been givin but the cops were wrong for asking for id and then trying to arrest him for no crime but refusing to show id its your right as a us citizin to not show id if no crime was commited i have a wallet size of the bill of right on me at all times show it to cops and they know u know your rights and they wont abuse your rights
(*edited by tcn) the ripon p.d. and the snobby ripon people that called on a noise complaint no house is close enough to the park for that. And the cops were out of line. Ripon p.d. is out of line 90% of the time on any stop they make. I hope they get fined or something and the kids get to laugh at them. Been here all my life in nazzi ripon and those terrible bored police I’m 35 years old and it would be nice for ripon to not get away with bull(*edited by tcn) for once. At least the fat (*edited by tcn) gets in trouble and the taxes happy guy along with the guy that can’t perform a leg sweep hahahaha amusing. Don’t deserve the tittle officer.. just dumb guys. My daughter was kidnapped and they don’t care or do (*edited by tcn) about it. But they love to (*edited by tcn) with kids. Keyword.. KIDS!!
lmao you call that excessive force? have some respect and youll be treated with respect these youngsters trying to act gangster when they are really pranksters well deserved i would have tazed him a long time before the officer tased him
Way to go boomer generation! You have raised a generation who raised THIS generation! You were so busy trying to be your child’s “friend” (because it was easier and took less time) that you raised children with no respect for anyone else. We used to live in communities. Communities where each person understood that their actions directly affected others. We don’t have communities anymore, now we just have a bunch of people living near each other and doing whatever they want and to he** with everyone else. Nice job boomers!!! (BTW, I was born in 1959)
These police are unruly and not appropriate. I hope to see them suspended as they abuse power all the time. Ever since beer started being poured everywhere the police are acting like this. Maybe we should stop pouring beers to stop police being so brutal and cruel!
The people of Ripon and the Ripon PD are smart. They don’t want the scalywag street bum takeover to happen to their quaint town like what happened to Turlock. Good job noise complainer and Ripon PD. Keep sweeping that dirt off your front step!. 😉
The police did nothing wrong, the guy started filming when the police tried to take the crook down.The video doesn’t show the guy not letting the police talk to the guy with the boom box. This guy acts all tough, but he was given chances to cooperate and he didn’t listen to the commands of the police, he was told numerous times to lay down and he wouldn’t do it. If you listen to the police and are not doing anything wrong you will never be questioned in the first place. This thug interfered with a police trying to talk and find out what was going on and see if the guy was on any chemicals. I am tired of thugs trying to be tough and when the don’t obey the police they cry abuse of power. Don’t do anything that the police need to be called out for and you never have to worry about being questioned but these punks of today have to act all tough and have no respect of authority and this is the generation of today. A bunch of punk wanna be thugs.
Hope they beat the (*edited by tcn) out of him once he was out of sight. What do you think is going to happen if you resist arrest? Do we really want the police to say… “ok mr. Bad guy, if u don’t want to get arrested today, then I guess we will just let you go”
You say people who side with the cops here have half a brain, then you write “that that” and obviously do not know what a period or a sentence is. You sir, have no brain.
I my honest opinion you guys bitch and complain about the “current generation try to act like thugs” I myself is not like this and many others are not, also some kids grew up in a bad place full of drugs,thugs, and corrupt cops etc. Instead of complaining do something as to inspire kids/teens to do more with their life. I know many of you will get mad at me but I’m being serious and honest. You all know the saying “actions are stronger than words”. Well my question is what will you do to take action.
This younger generation has no respect. all of that soda pop music ruined them I tell ya what.
As someone who spent 11 years growing up in this town, I can confirm that Ripon PD do have a tendency both towards excessive force and racial profiling. This is not to say that all their officers are neccessarily bad or out of line, but many of them, at least in my time growing up there were quite zealous about maintaining the town’s slowly fading small town image. The skate park in question is as someone mentioned, nowhere close to any houses, being sandwiched between the backs of two shopping centers, a storage unit facility, and the Ripon PD’s back parking lot. If the states time of around 8 is correct, then it still falls below the city’s 9pm noise ordinance. The skate park itself is a public park, and is therefore open to free use by anyone and everyone. The PD itself has somewhat of a history of racism. I can’t claim to know current numbers, but during my time growing up, I do not remember encountering a single officer of African American, Asian, or Latino descent. Every officer I met during that time and is someone I would describe as Caucasian, often with what could be described as a “country boy” attitude. I can remember a particular evening, when we had a family friend visiting us from San Francisco. She was a registered psychiatrist of African American descent who held both a doctorate and a medical license in Psychiatry. Upon both leaving and entering town she found herself pulled over two seperate times, simply for looking out of place in the predominately white community. Likewise for Mexican Americans in the town, it was very common for police to associate them with known local gangs simply for fashion choices such as red or blue clothing, ponytails, and tattoos. On to the issue of excessive force, it wasn’t uncommon for the seemingly bored police department to send as many as 3-4 squad cars, and up to eight officers in response to a common complaint such as loud music, or “suspicious behavior”, or someone drinking in public. I would also speak to the as stated focus on punishing / keeping in check the towns youth. Teens and young adults are naturally more susceptible to getting in trouble than their older/ younger peers. Largely due to this, at least in my time there, the police seemed to make it a dedicated mission to keep tabs on local youths; particularly those growing up on the lower end of the economic scale. Lastly, as was stated in several other comments, there is no mandatory obligation to show a police officer your ID, unless you are suspected of a crime. For this to happen, an officer MUST tell you what you might be charged with. In the video officers tell the suspect that their precedent is the suspicion of his being under the influence based solely off “officers judgement”. At no point in the video were any field sobriety tests being done, nor did the officers explain on the what basis they establish this suspicion. No rights were seen being read, and indeed what we see in the video is three grown men tackling, beating, and using a taser on a single unarmed suspect (even after he has been handcuffed). Now should the suspect have shown the officers more respect? Absolutely. But is three grown men cuffing, beating, tazing a handcuffed suspect excessive force? Once again, absolutely. The justification of “this younger generation needs to learn respect” has nothing to do with the fact that these officers lost self control and were antagonized into breaking procedure and using excessive amounts force. That self control is by far the most important aspect of being a peace officer. It is what separates police justice from revenge (or “vigilantism), and is what sets the U.S. as a beacon of proper law enforcement.
Subject uncoperated with the officers.officers did not do anything wrong.peer pressure making him a hero.should just obey the officers and get over with it without Any incident in minutes.
Take that moron to jail for trying to show off infront of friends and if theirs kids their which im sure there is then they shouodnt be hearing swearing from these ghetto kids music
Well after reviewing this video 2 times ive come to the conclusion that these cops are just as stupid as the kid resisting in this video
whatever happened to the 10 o’clock noise curfew?????? caucasians never have anything actually worth complaining about to the police
Ripon does a great job keeping other cities scum from coming in and tainting their city. Ripon Police do an outstanding job. They have invested well with cameras throughout their city to curb crime. Job well done. This is a great training video for Turlock
What a moron! Charge him under dumb decision making.
What’s up with the big heavy officer beating him in the leg when the other two have a taser and hands on him? ….. a bit excessive over some loud music…
If “Alex” cooperated there would have never been an issue. Ripon PD did their job and took this idiot to jail. Good job PD.
Yeah, maybe this kid was being a little disrespectful but respect is a two way street. And i dont care if you are a police officer, respect is earned when respect is given. And i dont think him not wanting to show his id justifys the police actions one bit. It was completely out of hand and unnecessary.
If they did there job u dumb ass idiot then Ripon pd has no training what so ever cause a trained officer would never handle a situation like that. They would handle it like professionals not like some first day on the job officers not knowing there head from there a$$. If he was handcuffed already why Was there forced used when he had no weapon I hope these officers loose there job and get made in to examples of what will happen when pigs get out of line. They must of not had there lunch yet.
POLICE HAD A RIGHT TO ARREST THIS GUY…NOT A KID…20 YRS OLD MAKES HIM AN ADULT…AND IF HE HAS NOTHING TO HIDE..why not show his ID… anyways.. Seems like they planned to get this on video…The friend even mentions it at the end…They n probably wanted to make a Viral video… Also I HAVE ALOT OF RESPECT FOR LAW enforcement. ..but the first two officers she go back to Get trained better…THEY SHOULD BE A BIT embarrassed that they BEING OFFICERS…DID NOT MANAGE TO subdue him…they had it easy had they know how to bring him to the floor…THAT GIRL SCREAMING should have been taken too…for being so scandalous. ..She was more scared than Alex who was going to get Tazed… not even that changed his Stupid Attitude. Hope his friends bailed him out.
(*edited by tcn) ripon police
What stupid criminals like this guy and you posters do not think about is a year from now, this guy is still going to be dealing with what he did in his “1 minute of fame”. He will have court dates, jail time, meeting with lawyers, an arrest record, lots and lots of wasted days and time over these things and then the jail time or fines or penalties that he will receive. All you stupid posters just watch this video for 1 minute, post your stupid comments like he was cool for resisting, then leave and forget about this within 24 hours. He will suffer this mistake for years! And that is the way it should be. Hopefully he learns and doesnt commit any other crimes… like robbing and killing one of his supporters on here.
So 11 years in Ripon, huh? So what, does that make you 12 years old now? You comments and thinking are wrong. Change.
Notice how the fat cop in the end starts hitting him but stops once he looks up at the camera. He knew what he was doing wasn’t necessary.and the cop trying to throw a protocol leg sweep is a embarrassment to law enforcement either he is fresh out of the academy or whatever academy he went to they pass anybody. He needs to go back for another training session. It was 2 cops on 1 little guy he should of face planted him easily you guys made your self look weak as hell.
for all you commending the cops saying loud music was justifiable, its not!! theres a 10’o clock noise curfew, up until 10pm youre allowed to have loud music. whoever called and told on them obviously didnt like the choice of music that was being played… “i hate that music, i cant tell them to turn it off so im gonna waste the cops time and tell them to do it for me since i dont have the balls to tell them myself”- said the person who called
I was raised to respect my parents. And with that i learned right from wrong, now if knucklehead would have listened to mommy and daddy he wouldn’t be looking like an ass all over the internet.
everyone at school is going to laugh at me mom.
No they wont son… ITS THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD LAUGHING NOW.THANK YOU FACEBOOK. BUT DONT WORRY JUST GO PUT ON YOUR BIG BOY DA,DA,DUNS
No the loud music didn’t make it justified. It was the 20 year old mouth that made it justified.
Pussy ass cops can’t even take down one guy single handed. (*edited by tcn) roast yourselves on a fire, pigs.