Mom Slaps Daughter, Dad Dies When Police Respond

Nair Rodriguez alleges police brutality in Oklahoma incident
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Suggested by DanPaul
Posted Feb 27, 2014 3:24 PM CST

An Oklahoma man died outside a movie theater in a bizarre series of events in Moore on February 15, and his wife is alleging police brutality, CNN reports. Luis and Nair Rodriguez were on a family outing to the movies with their 19-year-old daughter when Nair and her daughter got into a fight that ended with Nair slapping the teenager and leaving for the family car, followed by her husband. A witness ran into the theater lobby and told two police officers who happened to be there, dealing with two drunk patrons, that there was a domestic dispute going on outside. But officers apparently focused on Luis, not Nair, when they went to investigate; Nair and her daughter say they beat him, KOCO reports.

The confrontation ended with Luis pinned on the ground by five men—in addition to the two police officers, there was a third off-duty police officer and two off-duty state game wardens who were all working security at the theater—as Nair recorded the scene on her cell phone. "Please somebody tell me that he is alive," she says at one point on the recording. "He is not moving." A medical unit was called, but Luis Rodriguez died; his autopsy results are pending and a medical examiner's report could be weeks away, KFOR reports. The police chief says the officers' actions were "reasonable," though the three police officers were suspended with pay; he says pepper spray was used, NewsOK reports. As Nair was recording, officers told her her husband refused to show his ID and "got combative." (More police brutality stories.)

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