Harris County, TX — An innocent mother’s assault by a police officer highlights the risk people take when calling 911 for help. Angela Lopez needed the police for help but when they showed up, help was the last thing she got.
The Free Thought Project spoke with Mrs. Lopez, who wants her story told so that others do not share her brutal fate.
On August 16, 2014, Lopez had an altercation with her daughter. So, she called the cops to help her resolve this situation.
“I was involved in a physical incident with my oldest daughter that turned out bad. I was really upset because she had hit me and bit me in the knee. I wanted her and ex-boyfriend out of my home. After they refused to leave, I called 911 to get someone to come out to help me remove or escort them out of my house,” Lopez explained.
However, when police arrived, officer Francisco Salazar became instantly belligerent.
As Lopez explains, “He entered into my front door which was open. The first thing I told him was if he could please talk to my daughter because she wouldn’t listen to me. His first reply was ‘Shut up and give me your ID!’ So I turned to my other daughter in the hallway and asked her to get my purse in my room. Then the officer took a step towards me, got in my face and raised his voice loudly, and told me, ‘Did I tell her to give it to me? No! I told you to give it to me!'”
“Look, officer, you don’t have to yell at me. I’m not disrespecting you in any way,” Lopez told Salazar.
But this seemingly made the officer even more aggressive.
“Well, you don’t listen!” He pointed out his finger toward Lopez, saying, “Now step outside and let me talk to your daughter!”
Lopez tells the Free Thought Project that she realized that calling the police may have been a bad idea after this cop began to escalate the situation.
“At that point, I had a bad feeling this would not go good and that I could not trust him to help me resolve this, not with his aggressive attitude. I was upset, shocked and confused about why he was treating me that way, especially when I was the one who called the police for help,” Lopez said. “So at that point, after he told me that, I told him, ‘You no what, if you want to talk to my daughter, you and her can step out and you can talk to her out there. This is my house.'”
Having been told what to do set this officer off. He then demanded her ID once more and when she asked why, he attacked.
In the video, we see Salazar yank Lopez out of her house and slam her down in the front yard.
“He grabbed me by my wrist twisted my arm slightly and yanked me out of my house. When I was on the ground he kept telling me to give him my arm, knowing darn well, I couldn’t because my arm was trapped under my body and he was on top of me. He even bent my arm all the way in half, behind my back applying his pressure against it, hurting my shoulder really bad,” she said.
Salazar’s attack and subsequent ‘stop resisting’ remarks are typical in police takedowns. Salazar demanded Lopez give him her arms, while at the same time making it entirely impossible.
After brutalizing her in front of her children, Salazar then put Lopez in handcuffs and shoved her in the back of his cruiser — with the car turned off.
It was a hot day and Lopez recalls sitting in the back of the cruiser for a half an hour sweating before having an asthma attack.
“I could not breathe because he had all his windows rolled up, and it was very hot that day,” Lopez recalls. “I threw up 5 times because I was feeling so sick cuz I couldn’t breathe. I was left there alone without my asthma meds. About 30 minutes later, he took me to jail and told me he was charging me with Failure to ID.”
After sitting in the jail all day, Lopez was let go with no charges. She’d been assaulted, kidnapped, and caged, for doing nothing wrong.
Naturally, Salazar was never held accountable for the attack and in October, Lopez filed a lawsuit. Lopez is now permanently injured from torn ligaments in her shoulder. All for calling the police.
#1: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-16 10:27:25 Reply Private Reply
#2: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Well, she either injured her shoulder while resisting arrest or while fighting with her daughter. In either case, the city isn't responsible.
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-16 10:35:51 Reply Private Reply
#3: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
WHO escalated the situation???
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-16 10:37:36 Reply Private Reply
#4: Deckard To: misterwhite (#3)
It's HER HOUSE asshole!
Typical cop apologist.
Deckard posted on 2017-05-16 11:05:51 Reply Private Reply
#5: misterwhite To: Deckard (#4)
Meaning she can kick out the cop so she can continue beating her daughter? And let's not forget -- SHE called the cops.
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-16 11:38:08 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: misterwhite (#5)
For help - not a beatdown.
Deckard posted on 2017-05-16 11:42:44 Reply Private Reply
#7: Justified To: misterwhite (#1)
Thats anarchist for you. They wish to just disrupt and muddy the water so no one knows the truth.
Deckard is like a broken clock. He is right twice while be wrong 100 times but uses that 2 times to claim he is right all the time.
Justified posted on 2017-05-16 12:03:29 Reply Private Reply
#8: TrappedInMd To: Deckard (#0)
She does look like she's resisting in the video.
If it really was hot with the windows closed and she vomited inside then that must of left quite a stink behind in his police car.
Too bad she didn't record the exchange between them, it would make it easier to take sides.
TrappedInMd posted on 2017-05-16 13:58:01 Reply Private Reply
#9: no gnu taxes To: Deckard (#0)
no gnu taxes posted on 2017-05-16 14:04:19 Reply Private Reply
#10: TrappedInMd To: misterwhite (#1)
My comment too.
TrappedInMd posted on 2017-05-16 14:07:05 Reply Private Reply
#11: misterwhite To: TrappedInMd (#10)
I get this feeling that the recording actually started earlier but was edited to begin when the cop dragged her outside.
If I'm wrong then their timing was impeccable.
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-16 14:19:54 Reply Private Reply
#12: nolu chan To: Deckard (#0)
And so it came to pass that the Court said the plaintiff acted in violation of state law, the use of force was justified and not excessive, and Deputy Salazar had probable cause to arrest the plaintiff for interfering with his investigation. The Free Thought Project (TFTP) habitually lies, and Deckard habitually succumbs to an irresistible impulse to repeat TFTP bullshit.
https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/texas/txsdce/4:2015cv03077/1305098/19/0.pdf?ts=1475927142
Lopez v. Harris County et al, USDC TXSD, Houston Div, MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER, GRANTING Defendant's Motion for SUMMARY JUDGMENT on all of the claims asserted against Defendants in the action.
At 4:
At 16:
At 24:
nolu chan posted on 2017-05-16 15:03:16 Reply Private Reply
#13: TrappedInMd To: misterwhite (#11)
There is not enough here to conclude anything.
I did find it suspicious that she says she called the police because her daughter hit her claiming she only wanted the police to talk to her daughter, then when the police get there she asks her daughter to get her(Mom's) ID in front of him. That sounds funny.
TrappedInMd posted on 2017-05-16 21:32:21 Reply Private Reply
#14: U don't know me To: misterwhite (#3)
Apparently it is not.
U don't know me posted on 2017-05-17 08:05:40 Reply Private Reply
#15: misterwhite To: U don't know me (#14)
Ownership is not the issue. When crimes are being committed inside a house, law enforcement may enter without a warrant. It's called "exigent circumstances".
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-17 09:14:06 Reply Private Reply
#16: misterwhite To: TrappedInMd (#13)
So things are now starting to go downhill.
Then the cop asks the mom to step outside so he can talk to the daughter alone. The mom then tells the cop HE can step outside. Well, that's it.
misterwhite posted on 2017-05-17 10:00:44 Reply Private Reply
#17: Pinguinite To: TrappedInMd (#13)
The article is clear that the mother asked her "other daughter" to get her purse. Presumably that daughter was not the one with whom she had the altercation.
Having bodycam recording would indeed be more valuable. Knowing what transpired prior to the arrest is important. Obviously, no one starts recording with a phone until after they see the need to.
But the first order of business for the cop when responding to domestic dispute calls should not be to demand IDs from people. That should come last after the domestic dispute is resolved, assuming some report is warranted, or if there is some conflicting claims among the parties about who's who.
For what reason did the cop demand ID? What would he do with that information?
Pinguinite posted on 2017-05-17 14:57:58 Reply Private Reply