Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402200029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WORCESTER, MASS. LENGTH: Medium
But the differences are also compelling. The arrest of Cristino Hernandez, a 38-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, prompted no national outcry and no charges against the two arresting officers. In fact, they haven't missed a paycheck.
And while the Hernandez video lacks the jolting images of the King tape, it depicts more severe injuries: King recovered, Hernandez died 10 days later.
"King was able to live and tell about his brutal beating and Hernandez was not," said Hector Pineiro, attorney for Hernandez's family.
Following an inquest, a judge blamed the death on excessive force by police, but found no criminal wrongdoing. Hernandez himself was violent and irrational, Superior Court Judge Patrick Fox concluded in his December report.
Police Chief Edward Gardella said last week that the officers, who had been on paid leave, would be reinstated.
The case isn't over. A federal investigation continues and Hernandez's family plans a lawsuit.
Reidy and Officer Christopher McInnes, both 5 1/2-year veterans, didn't know Hernandez before July 6, a warm morning in this central Massachusetts city of 170,000.
Hernandez, who emigrated in 1989, was "a person who never bothered no one," said his sister, Noelia Chafoya.
But there were previous run-ins with police. He had been arrested for kidnapping and assaulting a police officer, and had been committed to Bridgewater State Hospital, where he was described as "psychotic, incoherent, regressive and lacking in behavioral control."
That morning, police received their second call in two days that Hernandez was harassing his neighbors. Reidy and McInnes responded. They didn't arrest Hernandez, although they said he pretended to shoot them with a toy pistol.
Minutes after they left, they were called back.
Reidy found Hernandez outside his home, carrying a golf bag. Reidy said Hernandez hit him with a hollow plastic tube and ran inside.
What ensued is disputed. The officers said Hernandez was wild and incoherent. They said he kicked them in their groins and was unfazed when Reidy fired pepper spray.
But Hernandez's mother, Elisa Quintanilla, and sister Paula Rolon, who witnessed - and videotaped - part of the arrest, said police beat Hernandez, who didn't fight back.
The 4 1/2-minute videotape begins after the scuffle moved outside. It shows Reidy, 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, kneeling on the back of Hernandez, who was 5-foot-4 and 145 pounds.
As Reidy lifts Hernandez's cuffed hands upright behind his back, McInnes sits on Hernandez's kicking legs and cuffs them.
A third of the way into the video, Hernandez stops moving. Reidy appears dazed and is spitting. About 90 seconds later the camera changes angles, and Reidy is seen pushing Hernandez's hands backward above Hernandez's head.
Paramedics eventually called to the scene couldn't find a pulse.
Hernandez never regained consciousness and died of a brain injury due to lack of oxygen, the state medical examiner's office said. Worcester County District Attorney John Conte ordered an inquest.
A subsequent internal police investigation concluded that the officers used reasonable force and that other factors could have killed Hernandez. Investigators said the pathologist's findings were based largely on the videotape, which "takes what it shows out of context."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB