Santa Ana Police release details in an investigation of the in-custody death of a 31-year-old homeless man after he had been beaten up by two men who allegedly witnessed him sexually assault a woman.
The incident on Oct. 4 started as a 911 call for a report of sexual assault at a McDonald’s off Edinger Avenue and Pacific Street.
“This guy just came behind me and put his hand up my pants dude!” a woman told the 911 dispatcher in the call provided by Santa Ana Police.
“Is he still there?” the dispatcher asked.
“No, he took off running,” the woman said.
Minutes later, police received another 911 call from a man who lives around the corner and witnessed a man getting beaten up.
Body camera footage edited and released by Santa Ana Police in a critical incident report briefing video on YouTube shows the moments officers arrived on W. Stanford Street.
“Hey can you put your hands behind your back?” an officer asked the man lying on the sidewalk.
The portion of the video shows the officers get him on his stomach and handcuff him, realizing he needs medical attention.
It was then that the officers noticed the man had spit a baggy of drugs out of his mouth, police suspect it was meth or heroin.
Xavier Rashawn Moore, 31, was transported to a hospital and declared brain dead two days later. He died in surgery.
While the Orange County Coroner’s Office tells NBC4 that Moore’s cause of death is still pending, a spokesperson for the police department said it could be linked to drug use and ruled an overdose, or to trauma and ruled homicide.
The 911 caller, who wants to be identified only as Luis, recalls the night he witnessed two men beating up Moore.
“All I remember is two guys chasing another guy down the street, literally beating him up as he was running. Um, and then right in front of where I live, that’s where they pretty much caught up to him. They started just beating him up right there.”
Luis, 911 caller
While the investigation is ongoing, police said they’ve identified and interviewed one of the two men who beat up Moore.
At this time, they are not pressing charges, stating it will not be murder because they had no intent of killing Moore.
“I guess these people just decided to take matters into their own hands even though, you know, maybe that's not the best thing to do, you know, cause they always say leave it to the police," said Luis. "But it has come to the point where a lot of times these people end up getting away with it."
Police told NBC4 that the men were lucky Moore did not have a weapon on him and they do advise witnesses to never intervene and put themselves in danger, but instead to call 911.
Police are waiting on the final cause of death to determine any possible charges.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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