Police Department launches an investigation after a viral video sparks outrage. We've been following this one. McFarland, California Police Department is investigating the alleged use of force captured, watch. [CROSSTALK] [00:00:28] >> Speaker 2: Last chance before I come get you. I don't want to. Hey, come here. Come here. Get over here, now. [00:00:45] >> Speaker 3: Watch out. [CROSSTALK] [00:01:01] He's not resisting. [00:01:19] I'm backed up. I'm backed up. I'm backed up. What the, I'm backed up. I'm backed up. What the [BLEEP] are you doing? [00:01:38] The [BLEEP] are you doing? You hitting him for? He's on the floor. He's on the floor. I'm backed up. >> Speaker 1: A lot of you have been reacting to that. Video was posted across social media showing McFarland police beating the young [00:01:54] man on the ground with a baton. Very disturbing to watch. When announcing their investigation, McFarland PD said in a statement. We are being as transparent as possible with all the known facts we have at this time. [00:02:10] According to local outlets like KGET, MPD said, officers were dispatched to assist the Kern County Sheriff's Office and California Highway Patrol for a report of hundreds of vehicles and reckless driving at Lake Waloms near Delano, California. [00:02:26] That was on Sunday, November 26, at just about 3:23 PM. Now, KGET reported that after officers arrived, vehicles and the crowd then went to Walmart in Delano and conducted a street takeover of the Walmart parking lot. [00:02:44] Again, according to MPD, Delano Police Department arrived to disperse the crowd and vehicles. And as the vehicles fled the parking lot, officers say some of the attendees allegedly began throwing glass bottles and vandalizing several police vehicles. Following the incident at Walmart, police say participants moved the street takeover [00:03:04] near McFarland, so they moved over a street where it was reported that there were approximately 200 vehicles, 300 to 400 people, conducting a street takeover. MPD said when officers arrived to disperse the crowd, the attendees then moved the street takeover to the city of McFarland. [00:03:23] The street takeover took place at several intersections in the city wild scene, apparently. According to MPD, police dispatch was receiving numerous calls for service regarding the subjects causing a major peace disturbance and [00:03:39] traffic obstructions. And a KCSO Air Unit reported there was a person who was pointing a laser from a firearm at the airship during the street takeover. MPD officers said, then there was a call that several people were in a physical [00:03:56] fight at this McDonald's, 100 block of West Sherwood Avenue. Officers arrived to investigate the fight, reportedly found more than 50 subjects inside. Officers say they attempted to detain the two people who were involved in the fight. [00:04:12] There were numerous vehicles, people in the parking lot at the time of the fight. Police say two people involved in the fight allegedly refused to comply with the officer's commands to submit to a detention. Officer's deescalation techniques were ineffective. [00:04:29] We'll get back to that sentence. I promise you. That's according to MPD. Both people ran from officers towards the parking lot. Both were overtaken in the parking lot. The two began allegedly resisting arrests. Again, we're going to get back to these statements. [00:04:47] MPD, this is according to MPD, resisting arrests. They tried to deescalate these suspects would not capitulate. McFarland Police Chief Brian Knox initially told the outlet officers who were attempting to detain two suspects, a man and [00:05:04] a woman who allegedly struck two people during a road racing event in Delano. Woman, later identified as 22-year-old Angenette Garcia Fresno, was immediately taken into custody on suspicion of two misdemeanors. After a short struggle with officers, so the woman struggled with officers. [00:05:21] Again, this is according to MPD. Officers say they use control holds and takedown techniques to take Garcia into custody. Garcia was not injured, according to police. According to police, I heard it too. [00:05:39] Later booked into the Lerdo Justice Facility Center. Garcia was not listed on the Kern County booking website as of Monday afternoon. Let's get to the male suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Francisco Joaquin of Fresno, began allegedly resisting arrest while officers [00:05:58] struggled to take him into custody on the ground, according to police. After a brief struggle and use of, who wrote this? And use of less lethal weapons, they do want you to know that officers say they were able to take Joaquin into custody. [00:06:18] KGET notes during a search of Joaquin, officers say they recovered this loaded semi automatic firearm with an illegal extended magazine. Additionally, officers say they learned Joaquin is a documented Fresno gang member [00:06:34] and convicted felon. When did they learn that? According to the Kern County booking website, Joaquin was arrested on suspicion of nine felony counts, including gang charges, carrying a loaded firearm without registration, resisting an executive officer and possession of a firearm by a felon. [00:06:52] Joaquin refused medical aid and was booked into the Lerdo Justice Facility Center, according to MPD. Now, PER-23, let's follow these details here because this thing is getting more and more interesting. [00:07:10] It is. PER-23 ABC, one witness, J Medina, said prior to the assault, quote, Joaquin wanted to know why. He was like, am I being detained? The officer was like, come out and you'll find out. [00:07:26] We'll talk about it outside. Creative license. Medina and her boyfriend watched the argument unfold. Medina detailed further quote, the officer didn't want to tell him. So then Joaquin was like, I'm not going. And that's when he walked out. [00:07:41] Then they started chasing after him and he started running. While recording the incident, Medina told 23 ABC she felt scared watching Joaquin being hit repeatedly and Garcia being pinned down after she had just been pulled down by her hair. [00:07:57] Medina said Garcia's chest even became exposed and that Garcia asked officers to, quote, cover me, please. But Medina said officers didn't cover her. See the pictures? So, Mayor, they said they're trying to be as transparent as possible. [00:08:16] This was a melee. There were hundreds of cars, three to 400 people. Now in the McDonald's parking lot, we saw less as they got to the McDonald's and said, where do all the people go, right? But I'm curious about the transparency and what you saw in that video. [00:08:34] >> Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely didn't see, I think what I saw was completely different than the police department statement. It's unbelievable to me that they literally are trying to say that the deescalation tactics didn't work or failed, and people began to ram. What they forgot to mention is the deescalation tactics weren't deescalation [00:08:52] tactics at all. They walked in with a gun in ready go mode. He's in an assault rifle in go mode, screaming across the restaurant, telling somebody to come out. The person is asking, why are you calling me out? Why should I go out? I'm not going out. You won't tell me, I'm not going with you. [00:09:08] At that point, it seems like you're trying to kidnap him. He asks you in front of all of these people to tell me why, you have no why. He goes the opposite direction, which is smart. This idea that he's resistant when he was down on his hands and knees as if he was in a praying position, and then started getting beat with a baton repeatedly, randomly as well. [00:09:27] And I can't believe, we didn't even see what happened to the female in this video. We just saw her snatch down, and the camera just immediately was focused on the guy. We just hear her screaming in the background. This idea that policing in this country is working is dismayed. [00:09:44] And also put proof on calls right now, we see why we have to dismantle policing in this video. It does not matter the color of the cop. When they put on that uniform, it seems as if they forget that they are dealing with humans. And everybody is obligated to agree or submit to whatever order they offer and [00:10:03] if they don't, then, well, you get beat. And also, if anybody is trying to record it don't matter because, well, it's America. >> Speaker 1: You didn't see what you just saw. You didn't see, we'll put out the statement, police will. [00:10:21] And whatever you saw witnesses, bystanders, innocent people, you didn't see. And as far as these tactics go, Mayor, this notion that we use these tactics, referring to the training at the academy, I guess what I saw as a layperson was someone come in. [00:10:38] I don't know. My guns look like an Uzi to me. Assault rifle is what you call it, Mayor. And I don't know how threatened that officer was. There was someone standing right next to him. A civilian could have grabbed the Uzi assault rifle, whatever. [00:10:56] I don't know why. If you're trying to deescalate, you wouldn't just walk in if you're that unafraid that you're just not even watching your back and say, I don't know. Ma'am, we got a call. You mind if I talk to you for a second. Let me just approach let's not bring this thing on up like you're around the way, okay? [00:11:14] It was ganglike behavior right there, jawing back and forth and ridiculous. It's ridiculous. As a journalist, Mayor, I will say this, and we've talked about this time and time again, because I looked at it as I'm the last line of defense to the viewer. [00:11:33] And so I can't say everything you hand me, producer, writer, I'm not going to say that. I need to be able to justify my words because words matter. And just because the police there are times the police handed in a statement based on their protocols, I guess, and you would be surprised. [00:11:50] It'd be lifted right into the journalist copy. I don't know anything about that. Police say this is what happened, and sometimes days later, you might, if you did at all, get some footage. Well, the man with a butter knife didn't even lunge at you. [00:12:07] Didn't lunge at you at all. I'll give you the last word. It's frustrating. It's frustrating, man. >> Speaker 3: It is frustrating. And then to cover up their behavior and to justify it, what do you start doing? You start authorizing this young man and starting to say, you didn't say we beat a 21-year-old. What you started talking about was, he's in a gang. [00:12:24] He's a convicted felon. First of all, nobody's a convicted felon. You may be a person with felony convictions, but when you start telling people someone is a convicted felon, naming them by an action that they may have committed in a system as corrupt as what we just saw, that shouldn't carry weight. [00:12:40] So we need to get past that. And I think until we learn how to deal with that listen, you said it, and people should understand it. We are not in a position where we could take the police's words step by step. >> Speaker 1: And that's not a crime, by the way, to say that. [00:12:57] Trust but verify. Didn't Ronnie Reagan say that? Mayor, you're the historian. You know better than I. But you work for the people, right? Serve and protect us. Why can't I? My daughter tells me something, I'm going to call the other mother, make sure, okay, just invite yourself, or you're not really going there. [00:13:16] I love her. I trust her. I must verify. We'll keep following the story. We'll see how things unfold, how they may a change, see if there's lawsuits filed or if in exchange for dropping a resisting arrest charge or something, this thing can maybe just go away. [00:13:33] I don't know. We'll see.