The following post and video was received from Maribel Diego, via the CopBlock.org submission page. Along with her submission, she states:
I suffer from PTSD from this incident and have taken different types of medication, but recently stopped taking them because they where making me even more anxious and depressed. We, the group of the Cop Block Network, should be the voice for everyone who’s been killed by policemen, we are one, we are all equal. One love, one step at a time, we can make change.
Date of Incident: December 28,2014
Officers Involved: Timothy Ricci, Craig Marcial, Michael Kos and eight unidentified officers
Department Involved: Oceanside Police Department in California
Cops nowadays honestly think they can do whatever they please, not until one December night did I know I would be a victim of police brutality. Late December, the night started with one of my friends Rey Carreno (who had been deployed, but was in town for Christmas ) picking me and my brother up to go out for a night of fun. We went to my cousins party and by the end of the night people got out of hand, so we decided to leave.
I don’t exactly know what these guys wanted but they had been rowdy for a while and from the looks of it they just wanted trouble. They hit my brother in the face with a vodka bottle and I lost it. I never thought I’d have to watch my brother fall to the ground defenseless and helpless I cried and cried until I threatened the guys I would call the cops. Of course, I didn’t get around to it, because I was putting my brother in the car when, out of nowhere, cops came to the scene.
I was being cooperative and told them exactly everything I had witnessed. They told me sit tight. By the time I looked over, they had thrown my friend on the ground. So I made a statement. I told them “you can’t fucking do that shit, WOW!” Not only did they yell at me “GET DOWN TOO,” but they ran up on me and slammed me on my back and began yelling “STOP RESISTING,” even though I was clearly slammed on my back. When out of nowhere, I felt multiple cops on top of me, one punch after another. “GEt THE FUCK OFF ME I’M A GIRL YOU PUSSY BITCHES” is what you heard me yelling while I was on the ground not knowing what to do helpless. I started crying even louder than before.
When they finally stopped punching me, they put me on my stomach and said, “your being arrested for resisting arrest.” I got to talk to one of the supervisors and told them he didn’t even tell me what I was being arrested for and that I had broken no law. He asked one of the three officers who attacked me what had escalated this. All Mr. Rookie Officer said is “She didn’t listen to me and wasn’t completely down.”
While the paramedics came to check on me, even though they should’ve came from the start, they didn’t even check my brother. He had a fractured eye and we only know this because his eye stayed black for months. It is still sort of darker than the other. Anyways, when the paramedics came they told officers they had to take me to the hospital to check my ribs weren’t broken, because I kept saying I can’t breathe. I was having an anxiety attack and I couldn’t do anything to help myself.
Once we got to the hospital, I started speaking my mind and told the cops what was going on in your head while your hitting me over and over again. The cops wouldn’t even look at me all they would say, “we are just doing our jobs.” Time passed and the hospital said I could leave.
After all the commotion and tears, I was brought to vista detention facility, where I would be wrongfully detained for “Assaulting AN OFFICER.” I was stripped down and violated. I never want anyone to experience what I’ve been through, because its such a heartbreaking moment when you can’t help yourself in any way possible. Finally, after four days, I was released.
I had multiple court dates. At my first readiness hearing, one of the cops from that night saw me and gave me the biggest grin and said why you got that look on your face. He began to giggle and I responded “you have some nerve.” That day my public defender told me they didn’t have to read me my rights. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Not only did they not read me my rights, but the Miranda Law says you must be informed by a peace officer that you are being detained and what for.
My second court date was a motion hearing for the cops background. At this point, I had no idea what was gonna happen to them or me. My public defender said they had no prior history of police misconduct, therefore I would have another readiness hearing. Somehow, Mr. EdMen Chavez was no longer my public defender. At the next readiness, hearing I met Mr. Adam Hepburne. He told me the same bullshit; no officer actually needs to read you your rights. I wouldn’t and I couldn’t understand why. At one point, my voice got loud and he told me okay, okay calm down. That’s when I knew he didn’t actually care that I was abused by the cops.
During the second readiness hearing, he told me I would have to go to trial because I wasn’t taking their deal, even though I kept asking for the dashcam videos. I wasn’t going to admit to anything I never did, their deal was resisting and delay of investigation. So, basically they dropped the assaulting an officer charge. Why? Because they knew I didn’t do anything, but courts are supposed to convict people. So they kept on keeping on with their deals. The day of the trial they gave me a new deal “disturbing the peace.” I cried my eyes out. I couldn’t believe the prosecutor and public defender really wanted to convict me for anything and they didn’t care what they had to do. I kept arguing the dashcam videos will show you guys what really happened.
When it was time for the policemen to get cross examined, I broke down. I thought I was being set up once again. They began talking about distraction blows and how they had to do this over and over again because I was just so “strong.” Officer Timothy Ricci actually stated he thought I knew karate. I couldn’t believe they were lying about everything to make themselves look good. The second cop came up and stated that he checked around the neighborhood for the guys who hit my brother, when in reality he never left the scene from the moment they got there. They kept trying to make themselves look like they actually wanted to help the situation.
Not only did they not release the dashcam videos they also “forgot” to turn on their mic. They didn’t allow me to show the jurors my personal video of that night. My friend began to record the first boy being thrown down, that’s obstruction of justice, they messed with the evidence and made the whole trial unfair. When I got crossed examined they barely asked me any questions and kept saying objection your honor lacks of foundation. Everything I was attempting to answer they wouldn’t let me say it. They weren’t letting me speak, they didn’t want the jurors to know what I felt or what I had experienced.
Then the public defender and prosecutor started their argument. The prosecutor (I forget his name) insisted that I had committed a crime way before any cop even touched me, even though he never actually stated the law that was broken. After I got cross examined, I knew in my gut I was going to get fucked over. Not only had the cops manipulated the story, but while the judge read the juror instructions he repeated everything I never did; Maribel delayed the officers from checking on her brother; Maribel assaulted one of the officers; blah, blah, etc… I couldn’t believe they where doing this to me in front of my face.
The trial took over five days. They finally got a verdict and found me guilty on all three counts; assaulting an officer, delaying an investigation, and resisting arrest. I couldn’t believe it, I cried and cried. This was not justice. I had a court hearing coming up and talked to a probation officer. I explained to her that I’ve been working since the age of 18 and I didn’t feel as if I broke any law. I told her that the cops need to stop beating people. All she said is its been happening and since you lost trial you have to suffer consequences. I cried. She said it might be just summary probation, but the judge can ask for custody. I was surprised. They where basically telling me I might go to jail, after all. Seven months of going back and forth to court for me getting mistreated by cops.
The day of my court, the judge asked if I learned my lesson. My public defender had already told me before I entered the room I would most likely be taking 20 anger management classes, because the probation report came back good, but that there was a chance that the judge may still ask for custody. When the judge began to talk, he said I had credit for eight days of jail, when I only served four, but I wasn’t going to argue with that. They waived my fines and only sentenced me to three years informal probation – NON 4th waiver – which means i still have my 4th amendment right and can never be checked without probable cause. I can’t own a firearm for ten years.
I thought to myself this is the justice system of the United States of America, when they know for a fact I didn’t do anything, but can still label me a criminal. It’s sad in so many ways I can’t even explain. America needs to wake up and see that cops are also people who break the law.
– Maribel Diego
Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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Connect with Kelly at these social networks; Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Murika; Destroying lives… any way possible.
War is coming.
Oh, Jesus. TV is not real life, they do not have to Mirandize you to arrest you, only to interrogate you. Assaulting an officer is cut-and-dried, no interrogation necessary.
“..Miranda Law…” Once again, someone learns that real life is a bit different than they thought. Questionable friends, cheap booze and poor decision making. Guess that disorderly plea deal looks pretty good right about now.
CS:
Oh my. Wasted youth…in many uses of the word wasted.
What is it about Miranda that they simply can’t get? It’s not hard. It only applies during custodial questioning. It’s really very simple.
Video Chick:
“I can’t breathe”. Classic. Holdin conversations…can’t breathe.
I love on the video where the smart friends keep telling everyone to shut up…sit down…relax.
I like how even addresses you directly as “Maribel…I told you”. And then “don’t resist”.
If you hear the officers…courteous and professional. Very “de-escalating”. Asked several times of people were alright.
Listen…the video YOU bee ought here clearly paints this incident very different than what you say.
Listen specifically at the 7:04 mark “maribell fucked up. She fucked up”. Those are YOUR FRIENDS saying theat YOU are the one on the wrong here
And your lawyer didn’t screw you…they tried to help by being honest with you.
You have been led very far from the truth.
You DONT have a right to assault the police
You DONT have a right to interfere with the police as they do their jobs.
You DONT have a right to show your ass in public and disturb the whole neighborhood
And YOU have ZERO idea of what Miranda is.
This one is all your own fault girl. Learn the harsh lesson.
I’m betting you won’t.
And YOU have ZERO idea of what Miranda is.
That is why people should refrain from speaking to much to the police. If they did understand it, they would know that talking and providing information will only hurt you, if you are arrested.
But, assaulting anyone, including the police, is a bad idea!
i never assaulted anyone i was the one who got thrown on the ground n hit numerous times without an explanation of why i was even being detained.
YF:
I’ve provide AMPLE reasons and reasoning as to why that approach is generally a horrible idea. But it certainly is within someone’s rights.
But to be fair with me….have I not written here many many times that CBers should always shut up? They instead try to engage officers and want to hold street court and wonder why it never works out so well for them.
they said i fucked up cus they knew i was getting tooken to jail simply for speaking my mind, since you werent there you wouldnt know what actually happend, so before you say its my fault, realize you dont know shit about me just from this article or how they threw me and attacked me.
Maribel:
Whatever helps you get through the day
Just watch and listen to the video YOU brought here.
The officers being as professional as they can be. The main voice on the video telling EVERYONE to calm down. And saying that YOU fucked up. Not the that the COPS are fucked up….but Y O U.
Just look at your whole story…and then put it into the context of what’s in this video. You describe officers out there just slamming and beating people…are heard very calmly speaking to folks.
You add these pictures of yourself with tiny little touch bruised….and claim you were BEATEN by several officers. Your injuries look exactly like what drunken arrests look like all the time.
• YOU are completely ignorant of the law and have ZERO idea of what your “rights” are.
• YOU engaged the officers…and as YOUR FRIENDS OPENLY STATE ON THE VIDEO…you fucked up.
Use it as a teachable moment. Sadly…you won’t though.
the fact that your only going based on waht they said doenst mean anything, you cant even see how i got attacked so why bother trying to back up the cops when your werent even there to witness, everyone was scared af of coarse they gonna continue saying dumb shit, i know what happend i dont even know why people give their opinion if they arent the ones going through it, i got my ass beat, you guys didnt,. i dont know who raised you, its never ok to hit a aperson especially a girl. so quite down
Well maybe if you weren’t dressed as a male cops would know the difference
you must be some bitch from oceanside who low key hates me has me on Facebook and cant and wont ever say this to my face hahaha hater.
Maribel you are a pathetic person. All you do is get high and drink since you were in middle school. You just wanted a reason to hate the police. You know you were wrong and trying to clean your hands by saying its the cops fault. Next don’t do the crime if you don’t want to do the time. And all of sudden you are girl only when it benefits you. You would always say you were a man and dress like one but now you want to be a girl.
haha ur just as pathetic for commenting , why bother waiste your pointless words when you cant say shit to my face “amber”
Shots. Fired.
Thanks for the insight, Amber!
Ur own friends did say ur brother was ok and u did kind of over react. Its known for drunk people to yell they can’t breath when the cop gets on top of them.. I myself have been in that position but high on weed not drunk on alcohol and in all reality yea they do put more presser then they should but it would only hurt and cause u to feel u can’t breath if Ur trying to move or get them off (what cops call resisting arrest). I guess u can be glad they didn’t play that video in court because by the sound of it u were in the wrong and didn’t do as told..
ugh in reality you have no clue what your talking about, the cops themselves testified they beat me with their “distraction blows’ becasue they couldnt attend my brother while his ears where bleeding, this is what was said from the cops oown mouth so before you say im wrong you should just shut ur mouth bcus i obviously wrote this to proove to people police men will cover their asses before even protecting you. take a seat “convicted innocent mother”
I heard the F word more in that video than I did in the Southpark movie
Nothing to see here but police doing it right, PTSD (yeah right) girl making her own situation worse and her own friends calling her out because of it…
you must know everything right, you know what i feel and go through, calling me out on what everyone was scared as fuck and knew i was going to jail for nothing why would they say thats not right if im the one who got beat up for sticking up for someone, tell me why would someone do the same thing i did when they see how cops react, educate yourself . read the entire article before you say shit
Quit pretending you’re the innocent victim here. You caused your own problems, now take responsibility for them.
Having a whopping total of 7 unique comments (excluding yours and comments that carry on a conversation) should be proof enough that people really couldn’t care less about your lil boo hoo, woe is me saga.
Why did it take you 8 months to share this? Why isn’t there a single solitary comment on the YouTube page where this video is stored (where it sat untouched since February)? Why does the video clearly NOT support your claims? The bruises you depict in the accompanying image are rather light for the heinous and cruel beating you clearly claim. The bruises, despite the images being taken 4 days after the fact, do not support your claim of such a heartless assault. Why, does your accompanying collage of images, show only 6 small bruises despite “…multiple cops on top of me, one punch after another.”. Judging by their similar size and shape, I would bet that they’re self inflicted. Do you have any medical proof that your brother suffered a fractured eye socket?
One major bone of contention I have with your sob story is your statement, “…but the Miranda Law says you must be informed by a peace officer that you are being detained and what for.”. Do you know ANYTHING about the Miranda law and how it applies to you? The answer is clearly “no.” Do you plan to take a lesson from this situation and learn how the Miranda law applies?
Now, lets move on to your trial. You claim that the police were trying to railroad you from the get-go. Listening to the voices in the video, there were quite a few people standing around you while this occurred. Where were the at trial? Why didn’t they stand up to back up your side of the story? I could keep on shredding your sob story to bits but I think you need some time to lick your wounds.
EDIT: As I wrote that, your friend “Amber” pretty much echoed what everyone said thus far.
what responsabilities? please do tell, you obviously didnt read my article so stop with your bullshit comments its pretty entertaining though how someone on the web seems to be so interested on trying to tell me bullshit if they werent even there haha. GOod day
if you read my article you would know everything your asking , lmfao no one wants a sob story or wrote one i want people to know thats how people get treated out here without breaking any law
I know you were mistreated but, you shoulda just shut the fuck up like the dude in the video said a million times. Even your friends on the video at 7:20 said you over-reacted, being scandalous, and that the cops at 7:37 had the right to put their hands on you because you were getting crazy.
I’m sure you’re a nice young lady, but you had a bad night of drinking that wound up costing you time and money. Be more responsible next time when drinking. Good luck :)
I read the story (that’s all it is… a story) word for word. I even went back to a couple points in your “story” (Again, that’s all it is…) so I could try and find something that would even help you. But nope. None of it makes much sense. As for not being there, you’re right. I wasn’t. But what’s funny about that statement is that anyone who presents opposing and more logical counterpoints would get the same response from you and those who even slightly agree would hear the opposite. It’s a common thing we hear, particularly from people who know they’ve done wrong and just can’t bear to admit it.
But hey, save yourself… Answer my questions and you just may sway my opinion.
you’re such a heartless piece of shit i don’t know why you bothered coming back here, when we got enough copsucker’s as it is.
It pisses you off. Good. Good.
If anyone actually takes the time to read the article they threw me on the floor because i told them it wasnt right for throwing a boy on the ground then they attacked me, pause at the begining you see the cop throuw someone n then run to where i was once the phone was smacked from my other friends hand,
Maribel:
You were wrong to get physically involved.
It’s as simple as that.
The cops should have their arms torn off and be beaten to death with the wet ends.
You should never drink and drive with a group of friends bad decision, come on you should known better!!
She’s STILL a human BEING. No one should have to be treated with disrespect by the police just because of the color of their skin. Her ‘friend’ sounds like a coward. Stfu sit down..smfh.
thanks for understanding and having an open mind, all these people commenting know nothing about wht happend, if they actually read my article they would see how i wasnt the first one to get mistreated, the reason for me getting thrown is becasue they threw another kid on the ground before me and i spoke out about it, i said it wasnt right and soon enough i got tackled n beat up, in the video you do hear dumbass rey my “friend” saying i fucked up but in reality your correct, he was being a coward bcus of those words, in other terms he was probably trying to protect himself, if u pause at 00;001 of the video with clear lighting you see the officer on top of a kid and thats the main reason his brother started recording soon after he gets his phone thrown on the ground, then u see the cop run to where i was being thrown and join in on the punching me while im already pinned on the ground. if the first kid was such a threat that they had to throw him why throw him on the floor then leave him to go join the other cops who started punching me, i appreciate you understanding who ever you are. POLICE MEN ARE COWARDS AND MURDERS
They get away with so many thing’s and they think it’s justified. it disgusts me how the police don’t care who they hurt.
It had nothing to do with the color of her skin.
I appreciate everyone having their own oppinion , you have the right to your own opinion, regardless the system is still corrupt and not untill you see it for yourself will you know how exactly corrupt it can be