Los Angeles Times

Officer shown striking man

Video captures part of a confrontat­ion in a parking lot of a Yuba City Taco Bell.

- By Veronica Rocha veronica.rocha @latimes.com

Authoritie­s are reviewing video that shows a Northern California police officer punching a man in the face during a struggle outside a fast-food restaurant this week.

The 10-second video posted on Facebook shows a Yuba City police officer in a confrontat­ion with a burly Ronald Ybarra, who appears to be either reaching toward his pants pocket or holding something behind his back.

The unidentifi­ed officer slugs Ybarra twice on the left side of his head, sending Ybarra’s sunglasses flying.

In the video, a man could be heard saying, “He’s got his gun, dude.”

After throwing the second punch, the officer takes Ybarra to the ground and mounts his back. Several dark objects can be seen landing on the surface of the parking lot. It’s unclear whether they were being held by Ybarra or fell from the officer’s utility belt.

The video ends as abruptly as it began.

“I don’t know what happened,” Ybarra told The Times on Thursday. “It all happened so quickly that I am still in shock.”

The takedown occurred Monday when the officer responded to a report of a disturbanc­e at a Taco Bell in Yuba City, about 42 miles north of Sacramento, Police Lt. Jim Runyen said.

Police released few details about the incident, saying only that Ybarra was one of those involved in the disturbanc­e.

Ybarra said he went to the restaurant to confront a man who he alleged had stolen a $5,000 check. During the confrontat­ion, Ybarra said, he called 911 for assistance.

Ybarra said he doesn’t know why the officer punched him or how it escalated. He said he only remembered being slammed to the hot ground, then being loaded into the back of a patrol car.

However, a woman who claims to have witnessed the episode told FOX 40-TV that the cop had been hit.

“The guy laid the biggest punch on this poor cop — came out of nowhere, and then there was a scuff le,” she told the station. “So the cop did what anybody would do.” The woman declined to give her name.

Ybarra was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest and violating probation, authoritie­s said. He is on probation for a 2016 misdemeano­r conviction for assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, according to Sutter County Superior Court records.

After nearly three days in custody, Ybarra was released Wednesday.

The Sutter County district attorney’s office said that no charges have been filed against Ybarra and that prosecutor­s were still reviewing the case.

The Police Department is also looking at body and dashboard camera footage of Monday’s arrest, Runyen said. “We take use-of-force incidents seriously and look at each incident,” he added.

As for Ybarra, he said he wants to see action taken against the officer.

Ybarra said the takedown left him with a sore jaw. “It was not good. It was not fun,” he said. “I don’t know what I am going to do.”

‘We take use-of-force incidents seriously and look at each incident.’ — Lt. Jim Runyen, Yuba City Police Department

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