Video shows LAPD tackling pursuit suspect with baby whose skull was fractured

The Los Angeles Police Division on Sunday launched new physique cam footage displaying an officer tackling a pursuit suspect carrying a 10-month-old child who suffered a cranium fracture.

The incident unfolded round 11:21 p.m. Feb. 11, when gang enforcement officers close to fifty fifth Road and Lengthy Seaside Avenue in South L.A. noticed a silver Jeep Wrangler with tinted home windows “driving erratically,” LAPD Capt. Stacy Spell stated in a video launched by the division.

When police drove in direction of the car, the driving force sped off after which crashed right into a massive flatbed truck.

As officers acquired nearer, the suspect drove off, kickstarting an 11-minute pursuit, Spell stated.

The chase continued till the suspect stopped the automotive, acquired out and began operating away from the officers.

Officers chased the person, later recognized as 25-year-old Josue Huerta, by a park and right into a neighborhood.

“I acquired him, I acquired him, I acquired him,” one officer may very well be heard saying in body-worn digicam footage as he ran previous the opposite officers and in direction of the fleeing suspect.

The officer caught as much as the person and “used his body weight to take him right down to the grass garden,” Spell stated.

The officer yells “Cease! Police! Cease” earlier than tackling the person to the bottom, video exhibits.

As he hits the bottom, the sound of a child’s cry is heard.

“I’m sorry however I’m attempting to take him residence,” the officer responds as one other picks up the kid.

Spell stated officers didn’t know Huerta was holding a child.

“Unbeknownst to any officer, the suspect was holding a 10-month-old toddler,” the captain stated. “Officers have been instantly capable of choose up the toddler and safe him.”

Huerta, who’s the toddler’s father, was then taken into custody. Police stated he was not injured.

The kid was taken to an area hospital the place he was handled for a small cranium fracture to the fitting aspect of his head. The toddler additionally examined constructive for cocaine and fentanyl, in accordance with LAPD.

He was admitted to the hospital earlier than being launched to his mom.

“The reason for the kid’s harm has not been decided. Nonetheless, the incident is being investigated as a categorical use of pressure incident as a result of the pressure used can’t be dominated out as the reason for the harm,” Spell stated.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore beforehand advised a civilian oversight panel that docs couldn’t definitively determine the supply of the harm, whether or not it was the results of the sort out, the car collision or one thing else.

Investigators ended up discovering narcotics, three unloaded 9-millimeter gun magazines and a considerable amount of money on the scene, in accordance with LAPD. 

The L.A. County District Legal professional filed a number of expenses towards Huerta, together with one rely of felony baby abuse, one rely of felony evading, one rely of felony possession of narcotics on the market and one rely of misdemeanor hit-and-run, Spell stated.

The incident is underneath investigation and the civilian board of police commissioners is ready to consider the proof to find out whether or not the officer’s techniques and use of pressure met requirements.