Jurupa Valley man dies after violent arrest of Riverside County MPs captured on video

JURUPA VALLEY, California (KABC) – A disturbing video shows Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies violently arresting a suspect they say tried to grab a security guard’s gun. The suspect later died at a hospital.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said deputies responded Tuesday night to Block 5500 on Mission Boulevard in the Jurupa Valley to investigate a deadly assault.

Authorities say the suspect tried to grab a guard’s gun during the incident at a grocery store. He accuses the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Ernie Serrano of Jurupa Valley, of fighting the guard and then deputies trying to detain him, but Serrano refused to comply with deputies’ orders.

The video shows that one of the deputies repeatedly hit the suspect with a stick. Another deputy then approaches Serrano on the ground.

“After Serrano was arrested, deputies noticed that he seemed to have stopped breathing. The medical staff at the scene gave help and were able to get a pulse,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.

Serrano was transported to a local hospital, where authorities say his condition has worsened. He was later pronounced dead.

Serrano’s family denies that he tried to grab a gun and say they were mad about his death.

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Investigators from the details of the force’s investigations, investigators from the Riverside County District Attorney and the Central Homicide Unit of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department have taken over the investigation, which is ongoing, the department said.