Man is suing police for alleged excessive use of force

A man said police beat him up for no reason and now he’s taking them to court.

An El Centro retired resident with a 28-year career in corrections said he’s taking action against local police. Rich Escalante said, “I’ve decided to go ahead and file a lawsuit against El Centro Police Department for beating me up for things I didn’t deserve.” He said he has pains all over his body since the incident. “Given 7 x-rays last week that shows bruising on different parts of my body that I didn’t even feel until a week later,” Escalante said.
He was arrested when he refused to leave a friend’s home. Police said he was intoxicated. “I didn’t do anything that warranted the beating that I took,” Escalante complained.
“Have an attorney out of L.A. who’s going to cover both my cases, my criminal and my civil case. Contacted the ACLU to make them aware of what happened to me and they’re interested in talking to me,” Escalante said, referring to the American Civil Liberties Union.
He said he’s doing it for other potential victims, as well. “Hopefully it’s going to open up everybody’s eyes; this stuff is going on out there. There’re probably other people that are afraid to come forward and they don’t know the avenues that are open for them. They think, if I go to a lawyer I’ve got to pay money. You don’t have to. There’s a lot of free law advice out there and you make your decision on what you want to do,” Escalante said.
Hilton Smith, a local human rights activist from City of Imperial, said police need proper equipment. “If you have a body-cam or dash-cam to show what transpired in that incident there’ll be no doubt,” Smith said.
El Centro Police Department is in the process of getting body-cams. They also said they haven’t received an official notice of a lawsuit from Escalante. In the meantime, they cannot comment on the case.

ECPD said anyone who feels they have been wronged by their officers can file a complaint at the station.