Ukiah officers under investigation for punching naked man

The Ukiah Police Department is investigating a group of officers who repeatedly punched a naked man in the head Thursday after multiple failed attempts to restrain him, an incident his family and a witness say was a display of excessive force against a noncombative man.

The confrontation, which was recorded by several bystanders, involved Gerardo Magdaleno, 25, a longtime Ukiah resident with mental health issues who had taken LSD the night before, said his sister, Luna Magdaleno, 30.

Magdaleno has a history of taking drugs in place of the pills prescribed to him to treat his schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, she added.

She and her relatives had not had contact with Magdaleno since his encounter with police, though she said she had heard her brother was treated for facial fractures and a concussion at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley hospital.

“He gets anxiety and he runs to drugs as an escape,” Luna Magdaleno said.

“It’s really cruel and unfair; it’s police brutality,” she said of her reaction to the bystander videos.

Gerardo Magdaleno encountered the officers at about 3 p.m. on South State Street, just south of city limits, when a city police officer responded to a call about a naked man running in the roadway, Ukiah police said in a statement.

An officer who found Gerardo Magdaleno gave him verbal commands, which Magdaleno did not follow, the department said without detailing the nature of the commands. Police said Magdaleno instead responded by assuming “an aggressive stance.”

The department then described officers’ attempts to detain Magdaleno, among them multiple Taser and pepper spray deployments in addition to repeated orders.

“Eventually Magdaleno was brought to the ground by several Officers but he continued to resist handcuffs and ignored verbal commands to stop resisting,” the department said. “The Officers then attempted to gain compliance by delivering numerous distraction strikes to the suspect’s head. This allowed the Officers a brief opportunity to place Magdaleno into handcuffs, and then the technique was ceased.”

Police said Magdaleno was taken to the hospital for medical evaluation before he was booked into the jail but did not detail any injuries he may have suffered.

Frank Pacino, who grew up in Ukiah and returned to the area four year ago, said he pulled over to film the encounter after noticing the naked man and seeing a patrol car rushing to respond, he said.

Warning: Video contains nudity and violence.

Before he could get his phone out to record, he saw the first arriving officer Taser the man after shouting repeated commands about a minute after arriving, Pacino said. In a video shot by another bystander, an officer can be heard telling Magdaleno to “get on the ground.”

By the time Pacino’s recording starts, Magdaleno is standing with his hands at his side, turned away from Pacino’s camera and facing the officer, who is standing a few feet away, the video shows. He clasps his hands together in front of him, points his fingers at the officer and signals as if he fired a gun before partially turning his body away and staring at the sky.

A second officer responds seconds later and almost instantly fires what appears to be an electroshock weapon at Magdaleno, who falls the ground.

The two officers then begin to wrestle with Magdaleno in what looks like an attempt to turn him onto his stomach, punching Magdaleno’s head several times in the process, the video shows. A third officer arrives a short time later.

One officer appears to kick Magdaleno while the other two strike Magdaleno in the head. One of the officers, who is holding a black object in his hands, steps back while two of the officers continue to wrestle with Magdaleno.

The patrol car of another responding officer parks and blocks Pacino’s view of the ordeal. The video ends shortly after.

“The reason I recorded the video was, honestly, because I thought police were going to kill this man,” Pacino said. “That gentleman never once was aggressive other than that he put his hands up and pointed at (the officer) and then turned away.”

Thursday’s incident will be investigated by the department in compliance with its use-of-force policy, the statement said. The statement did not name the officers involved, though it did say both body worn and patrol car-mounted cameras captured video of the incident.

Attempts to contact Ukiah Police Lt. Andy Phillips, who signed the statement, via phone and Ukiah Police Chief Justin Wyatt and the city’s Mayor Juan Orozco by email for comment were unsuccessful Friday afternoon.

Magdaleno was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of public intoxication, resisting arrest and drug paraphernalia possession, a charge that stemmed from a glass pipe that was found inside a pair of sweatpants officers found nearby that they suspect belonged to Magdaleno, the department said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.