Opinion ID: 3003518
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Julio Gonzalez

Text: Julio testified that when he arrived at La Rosa he walked straight over to talk to the restaurant owner, who was standing with customers near the entrance. After Julio had been talking with the owner for a short time, Officer Pantoja walked over and told the group that they needed to move. Julio testified that he understood Officer Pantoja to be asking them to move aside, rather than off the premises, and so he and the owner moved a little away from where they were originally standing and continued their conversation. A number of officers then arrived en masse, and one officer ran over to Julio and pepper-sprayed him, without warning, in the face. Julio claims that he heard the restaurant owner tell the police, “You guys got the wrong guys,” and ask, “[W]hy are you spraying him?” The owner then helped Julio inside the restaurant to wash the spray off. When Julio went back outside, he saw officers assaulting Antonio and walked over, with his hands in his pockets, and told the police, “[Y]ou guys got the wrong guys.” One of the officers pushed him away with an object, either a baton or flashlight, and so he turned and walked away, over to where the restaurant owner No. 08-2658 15 was standing. At that point, without warning, an officer grabbed Julio’s hands and held them behind his back and pepper-sprayed him in the face. Julio was then handcuffed and his feet were swept out from under him so that he fell to the ground. Julio then asked an officer why this was happening, at which point he was told to “shut up” and pepper-sprayed for a third time. Julio ended up in the back of the police van. Julio was never told that he was under arrest, and he never tried to resist the officers. Julio was charged with mob action and resisting a peace officer; like the others, these charges were later dismissed. The defendants again tell a different story. They say that Officer Pavoris administered pepper spray to Julio because Julio ran at Officer Pavoris while he attempted to place Antonio under arrest and because Julio questioned the officers arresting Antonio. Julio was pepper-sprayed a second time, according to the defendants, because he attempted to obstruct Officer Robinson’s arrest of Maria by “repeatedly . . . approach[ing] the area where Officer Robinson was attempting to handcuff Maria, despite instructions from Officer Neff to keep back.” The defendants assert that at no point was Julio “struck” by any police officer. Neither party points to any video evidence of Julio’s arrest. From the parties’ versions of events, however, one might infer that Julio appears briefly on Video 857; at 4:58:36 we see a man walk towards the officers who are beating Antonio. This man is forcefully pushed back by an officer, and then disappears from view. 16 No. 08-2658