- Los Angeles police officers were filmed detaining a young man at a community event.
- The man, Robert Cortez, had been filming the officers as they detained a friend, Cortez's mom said.
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department were filmed detaining a young man and his friend at a community event.
Robert Cortez, 19, was with his childhood friend helping set up chairs for an event organized in part by Los Angeles City Hall, the Harbor City Council, and the LAPD when officers noticed the young men and approached them.
The officers recognized the friend and began to detain him, Cortez's mother, Rocio Gonzalez, told Insider. Cortez took out his phone to record.
—Film The Police LA (@FilmThePoliceLA) September 5, 2022
Gonzalez told Insider she was in shock when she saw footage of an officer who "slammed my son on the ground."
"For what reason? Because he was recording you?" she said.
Gonzalez said she spoke with the officers involved and their sergeants. She said officers told her they thought her son's phone could have been a gun. The LAPD did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
"What is he being detained for?" Cortez can be heard saying in a video shared on Twitter.
In the video, an officer can be seen rushing to Cortez and eventually tackling him to the ground.
"What am I being detained for?" Cortez can be heard yelling, while another officer points a green Taser at onlookers.
The 19-year-old was later arrested, accused of resisting arrest. Cortez's bail was set at $25,000.
California law and the First Amendment allow onlookers to film police officers as they question and arrest people in public.
William Gude, a local activist who runs the Twitter account @FilmThePoliceLA, said Cortez wasn't doing anything wrong by filming the officers. "I think Robert was brave and did the right thing," he told Insider.
Activists like Gude have joined a chorus of people calling for reforms at the LAPD given recent acts of police brutality.
In 2020, LAPD officers shot 27 people, killing seven of them, and in 2021, the LAPD shot at least 37 people, killing 18 of them, according to reports from the department.
In one notable case last year, LAPD officers trying to apprehend a suspect at a department store shot and killed a bystander, Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old who was shopping at the store.