MOORE, Okla. – After weeks of accusations, the public is now getting the chance to see a video that was taken the night a local man died in police custody.
Nair Rodriguez, Luis Rodriguez’s wife, said from the beginning her husband was beaten by police.
On Tuesday, her attorney’s office released the video, allowing everyone to decide for themselves what happened to him.
In the video, Nair Rodriguez is heard calling for her husband to tell her if he’s okay.
However, he did not answer.
It was just one of the scenes that unfolded in the video.
After about a minute, an officer approaches her to discuss what happened.
Kyle Eastridge is a former homicide investigator and is now working as a private investigator.
As he watched the video, Eastridge said, “Those guys are out of breath.”
As the video continues, Eastridge notes that Rodriguez does not seem to be responsive.
He says it is hard to give an opinion on the case since he does not know what happened in the moments leading up to the arrest.
However, he says the officers did not use excessive force based on his knowledge of police procedure.
Eastridge said, “This is pretty benign as far as police procedure goes. Everything is textbook. I don’t know what happened before.”
When talking about an officer who had his knee on Rodriguez’s back, Eastridge said, “He’s not really bearing down on him. He’s just trying to keep him down.”
As the video comes to an end, Eastridge and H.L. Christensen, another private investigator, noticed paramedics taking action, which they believe shows Rodriguez was likely alive as he was loaded into the ambulance.
Both men say without seeing an autopsy report, it is hard to say whether police were responsible for Luis Rodriguez’s death.
The Rodriguez family attorney spoke for the first time on Tuesday.
Michael Brooks-Jimenez said Luis did not deserve to die.
He said, “Luis committed no crime. He was not armed. He had no gun, no knife, no weapon of any kind. But Luis is the one who lost his life that night.”
It is still unknown if he died from excessive force by police or some other unknown factor.
Eastridge said, “It’s going to come down to what does the medical examiner report say?”
We are still waiting on the medical examiner’s report to be finalized.
The medical examiner’s office said it could be several weeks before that happens.
Moore police and the OSBI both declined to comment on the investigation or the release of the video.
MORE: Complete coverage of Luis Rodriguez’s arrest and death in Moore Police custody
