New video taken moments after police fatally shot a man in San Bernardino County Tuesday shows an officer violently striking the suspect in the face three times after he had been shot and was on the ground.
The deadly encounter occurred when an officer with the Fontana Police Department responded to the area of Chery Avenue and Baseline Road just before 2:20 p.m. on reports of a man armed with a metal pole assaulting a person and damaging property.
Authorities say the suspect, now identified as 44-year-old Fontana resident Jesus Garcia, also smashed computers and registers in a nearby AutoZone.
Police say the responding officer attempted to de-escalate the situation, but the man refused multiple commands to drop the weapon and surrender.
“During the encounter, the suspect attacked the officer with the pipe, resulting in a lethal force response from the officer,” a Fontana PD news release stated.
“It was like four or five shots that caught my attention and then I got out of my car and saw a person on the floor,” Arturo Garcia who witnessed the beating in the parking lot told KTLA.