Man arrested said he was beaten by police for no reason

El Centro resident Richard Escalante claimed to have trouble walking and with his vision due to police beating he suffered during his recent arrest.

“There’s nothing that I did that would warrant the injuries that I received. Last night , I couldn’t walk. I almost took myself back to the emergency. My neck muscles hurt, and along my back, there’s something right here in my back that I could barely walk last night , ” Escalante said.

He got into an argument with a friend at her El Centro home on Friday .

“She was asking me to leave and I just said I was watching the game, and I said no, I’m watching the game. And that’s when she called 911,” Escalante said.

Escalante said four officers rushed him with guns drawn while he was sitting in the living room watching television.

“When I was down on the ground, I remember one of the officers just kept on punching me on the face. And I told him, I’m going to remember you, I’m going to remember you, I’m looking right at you,” Escalante said.

ECPD Executive Commander Alvaro Ramirez said Escalante was intoxicated and resisted arrest.

“He was uncooperative and ultimately, they had the need to deploy force to overcome his resistance,” Ramirez said.

They’re investigating the use of force as a standard procedure every time force is used in a situation.

“Any time that we have any type of deployment of force, because in this situation there were some injuries sustained by Mr. Escalante and he was treated at a local hospital before he was taken to the jail, we have certain policies and protocols in place to insure that we review all of these cases,” Ramirez said.

Escalante is demanding to see body-cam footage, but it’s not available.

“We are currently in the process of deploying new in-car and body-worn camera system but at the time of this incident our officers were not wearing body-cams,” Ramirez said.

Escalante is a retired corrections officer with a 28-year-career. He said what happened to him could have ended in tragedy.

“I want them to be trained and led by their supervisors so that it doesn’t turn out to be tragic for another person,” Escalante said.

Escalante is charged with a felony for obstructing the use of a wireless device (cellphone) and a misdemeanor for resisting arrest. He’s due in court on September 18 th .