‘Violence is always ugly.’ Chowchilla police release video of struggle during arrest

Chowchilla police this week released body camera videos of a lengthy struggle between officers and a man wanted on a felony warrant in response to a separate social media video of the incident posted by a bystander.

Police say Joel Sebastian Lares, 26, has an extensive history of possessing illegal weapons, assault, narcotic arrests, thefts and burglary.

Multiple officers struggled with Lara for about four minutes to put handcuffs on Lares, who resisted the efforts by putting his hands in front of his body.

In a department statement, a spokesman said, “like most social media videos, they only capture a portion of the event. This video captures the entire event and gives the view from the officer(s) involved.”

The spokesman said the department quickly released the video because it wanted citizens to see the whole incident.

“Violence is always ugly and officers are exposed to violent situations every day. They are required to overcome that violence, not just match it.”

In the body camera video, Lares is punched several times as officers try to get him to submit to being handcuffed.

Lt. Jeff Palmer was asked whether officers had other options at their disposal, such as Tasers, to bring Lares into submission.

He responded that the officers “used what was available to them,” and said he was not going to get into what other options were available. Palmer added that Lares was wanted for possession of an illegal weapon, and was reaching into his waistband during the struggle.