LAPD Releases Body-Cam Footage Showing Repeated Force on Handcuffed Man Who Later Died in Custody
On 29 August 2026, the Los Angeles Police Department released body-camera footage showing officers using force on a handcuffed 58-year-old man multiple times in the hours before he was found unconscious and not breathing in a Van Nuys regional jail cell.
Jose Carlos Hoyoz-Munoz was arrested on 13 July 2026 after police responded to a call about a suspected assault with a deadly weapon in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. According to The Guardian, he allegedly injured his mother and another relative with a knife. When officers arrived, one found Hoyoz-Munoz's mother with a cut on her arm. She said in Spanish: "He has lost his mind. He's gone crazy."
What followed was an hours-long standoff during which a SWAT team used teargas (a chemical agent that irritates the eyes and respiratory system, commonly used to force someone out of a barricaded space). Officers eventually found Hoyoz-Munoz inside the house, kneeling at a piano, touching the keys, and talking about religion. He was taken into custody and transported to the Van Nuys regional jail.
The body-cam footage, also covered by the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News, shows at least three separate use-of-force incidents inside the jail facility. "Use of force" refers to any physical action by an officer beyond routine control, such as pinning someone down or using body weight to restrain them. That number itself reveals a discrepancy: at the time of Hoyoz-Munoz's death, the LAPD said two such incidents had occurred. In the video released on Friday, the department said three took place.
The footage shows Hoyoz-Munoz flapping a piece of cloth against his holding-cell window before several officers entered and pinned him to the ground. The LAPD described this restraint as a response to "combative" behavior while officers tried to fingerprint him. Officers then placed him in a harnessed transport chair, a device used to move inmates who are resisting. During that transfer, they again used their body weight to restrain him, citing resistance.
The LAPD said Hoyoz-Munoz spat at officers, after which they placed a spit hood over his face (a mesh covering designed to prevent saliva from reaching officers). He was escorted back to his cell still handcuffed, with the spit hood partly covering his face and his pants sagging to his ankles. After he climbed on top of the toilet in his cell, officers entered again, moved him to the cell bed, and piled on top of him as he lay face down.
The department said officers conducted wellness checks for 20 minutes after the final restraint, during which Hoyoz-Munoz appeared to show signs of life. An officer subsequently noticed he was not moving. When officers checked on him, he was unconscious and not breathing.
Two days after his arrest, on 15 July, Hoyoz-Munoz was found unconscious in his cell. The LAPD assigned the incident case number NRF029-26ag, as noted in a department newsroom notice published on 17 July.
The LAPD's Force Investigation Division, which is responsible for investigating all incidents involving an officer's use of deadly force, per the department's critical incident video page, is handling the probe.
The same release on Friday included body-cam footage from a separate fatal encounter: the death of 33-year-old Alejandro Luis Garcia, whom officers fatally shot after he allegedly shattered car windows with a baseball bat.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass issued a statement on Friday describing both videos as difficult to watch and called for an independent evaluation into officer-involved deaths involving people experiencing a mental health crisis.
Several elements in the Hoyoz-Munoz case will likely attract scrutiny from investigators and oversight bodies. The upward revision of the use-of-force count from two incidents to three suggests the department's initial accounting was incomplete, though whether that reflects a reporting error or a later review of evidence is not specified in the released materials. The sequence captured on body-cam, involving multiple uses of force against a handcuffed individual over a span of hours, also raises questions about restraint protocols, de-escalation procedures, and medical monitoring during the post-restraint period.
The broader context here is the intersection of mental health crisis response and use-of-force outcomes, which sits at the center of both cases released Friday. Hoyoz-Munoz's behavior during the standoff, his mother's description of his mental state, and Garcia's alleged property destruction all point to encounters that began as behavioral crises rather than conventional crimes. Mayor Bass's call for independent evaluation signals that political pressure for a systemic review will run alongside the Force Investigation Division's internal probe, though any policy changes or disciplinary outcomes remain pending.
The LAPD had not, as of the footage release, publicly identified the officers involved or specified whether any had been placed on modified duty.
