Police Use Control Hold to Subdue Subject

Los Angeles: Officers responding to a radio call of a man with a mental illness exhibiting bizarre behavior used a control hold to subdue him Sunday afternoon.

On September 24, 2006, shortly after 3:00 p.m., Harbor Area Officers Dana Lovato and Jesus Ruiz responded to the radio call in the 1400 block of West Carson Street.  When they arrived, police saw Ronald Manosa, 21, standing in front of an apartment building.  Officers attempted to make verbal contact with Manosa but he was unresponsive. Based on Manosa's strange behavior, officers waited several minutes before deciding to approach him.

While police were attempting to handcuff Manosa, he resisted and began to fight.  Officers wrestled him to the ground and requested assistance from other units.  The fight continued for several more minutes increasing in intensity and bringing the two officers to the point of almost complete exhaustion.  Finally, Officer Ruiz, in a last ditch effort to control Manosa, used his hands and applied a Carotid Restraint Control Hold. This proved effective stopping Manosa's aggressive and violent behavior.  Additional units arrived and assisted in taking Manosa into custody.

Department policy allows for the use of a Carotid Restraint Control Hold for self-protection or the protection of others from immediate serious bodily injury or the threat of death.

Los Angeles City Fire Paramedics responded and transported Officers Lovato and Ruiz to Torrance Memorial Hospital for injuries sustained during the fight.  Ruiz received a hairline fracture to his right forearm; Lovato suffered numerous abrasions.  Both were treated and released.

Manosa received treatment for several abrasions.  He was then taken to Twin Towers Correctional Facility where he was booked for resisting arrest.

Force Investigation Division is handling the inquiry.

Comments

[The Grammar Inspector]

"a man with a mental illness exhibiting bazaar behavior"

The word you want is "bizarre." A "bazaar" is a marketplace for selling various goods. (Unless, of course, when the police approached the man, he hastily pitched a tent and set out pots and pans for sale, then that might be classified as "bazaar behavior.")

[Jhon Doe p-2]

Great job to those officers. If in their posistion, I would have opted to apply the same technique. I hope and pray for a speedy recovery for both officers. GREAT JOB! In addition I also hope that a investigator from FID, will be one that did not forget their roots in patrol. If the investigator(s) did forget their roots, than those officers will probably be raked over the coals for using deadly force. If that happens, it would be an outrage, and another substantiating reason for the mass exodus of officers from this fine department.

[Lt. De La Torre]

GI,
Thank you for your contribution you are absolutely correct. I made a mistake and I apologize.

[gonzo1510]

Based only on what I read above,
I believe ofcr ruiz's actions prevented a potentially tragic outcome on all sides. Glad to hear both officers will be fine.

Now, having said that....

I love the way that the choke hold is now the carotid restraint control hold. The AR-15 is an "Assault Weapon" in the hands of a "civilian",but when used by a police officer, it's an "Urban Police Rifle". What's next ? Is the garbage man a sanitation engineering specialist?

[Gabe Sahatjian]

Why is there such a lack of mental health awareness among our L.A.’s finest??
What is being done regarding this void?
If mental illness was identified during this call, why was the psych team left out and not called during the incident?
What makes the situation worst is the fact that an individual with a mental illness was booked and charged.
Was a psych evaluation performed?
Was client on psychotropic med's?
Did he take his med's that day?
It too sad and too often, our legal system is filling our jails with individuals who resists arrest when a mental illness is identified.
So I’m curious to ask, what was locking up the individual suppose to do beside waste my tax dollars?
If he is not compliant with his medication, is this normal protocol for the department.

[Ed O'Shea]

Hey Gabe,
We do the best we can with the tools we have. As for locking up people with mental illness? In quite a few cases, we call out our mental evaluation unit (MEU) which consists of a mental illness professional and an LAPD Police Officer working as partners. They are quite good at determining weather or not a person is truly mentally ill and in need of help. When a crime is committed you treat the suspect as such, like a suspect. That way you can document the crime and when and if the suspect (mentally ill or not) needs an evaluation, he/she gets one. If a person who commits a crime seems as if they need an evaluation, they get one! I know you are going to find this quite SHOCKING, but occasionally (often) people and their families lie about them being mentally ill, because that are in denial about the true nature of there inappropriate actions, drug usage! Hence the bizarre behavior. So the patrol Officer is quite educated on what needs to be done, but no we are not Doctors, so we defer to the pro's on the evaluations. However if a person complaining of being mentally ill kills your family member Gabe, I am sure you will wonder what his history is and or whether or not he was properly charged and monitored for his conduct. And that is what we, on the LAPD are doing. Is it a perfect program, no, but what is. We are doing the best we can down here on the foot soldiers level with the tools we have.
Sounds like you are concerned about your tax dollars? That being your position, and unless you have been hiding under a rock, you might have heard we are being monitored under a federal consent degree. If you are truly concerned about your wasted tax money, look at the amount of waste it takes to conduct that frivolous program. The People of Los Angeles and the rain Forrest are the true victims of this program. Paper work, paper work and more paper work.
To all my fellow worrior Cops
Saty Safe.
Ed O'Shea

[Marcus]

Gabe,
You're right about alot of things you said, however...when a man (or woman) becomes a danger to themselves and/or others, the officers cannot standby and wait for the response of psych team...they have to take action. The article even states that the officers weighed their options before deciding to handcuff him. I'm willing to bet they had a good reason. His bizarre behavior was mostly like violent. I doubt they wanted to get into a physical confrontation. Welcome back to patrol, Dana!

[onetime2]

Gabe,

As officers we do receive training regarding the mentally ill. You ask where is the psych team? Well, the Mental Evaluation Unit, as we call it, will not respond to a radio call unless requested. This will take an additional 1-3 hours if during business hours, and during off-hours, it's pretty much a crap shoot. So what you're also speculating is these officer's knew for a fact that this person was mentally ill. Who was the person reporting, did he have prescription medication on him. Oh yeah, wait, during the struggle, and while physically exhausted, out of breath, and finally fighting for their lives, they had the time and opportunity to come to a conclusion. I'm sure the questions and verbal commands were exhausted before the officer's approached. But there comes a time when a decision needs to be made. This decision includes the safety to the community, the mentally ill person, and finally to the officers. From there, the suspect dictated the officer's actions.

I'm glad the officer's are doing well and the supposed mentally ill person can hurt no one else right now. He is where he is and thank goodness.

[Jim Reed]

Let us not loose sight of the real fact here. The Department does not want its officers to use force on arrests, especially when it opens up City liability.

Now comes the men in suits. These are the ones who pride themselves for having not worked patrol and thus have a crystal clean package. They are the ones who get to "evaluate" all the mistakes made by the officers and make recommendations to Command Staff as to how many days they can be assessed for all these errors.

Let me count the ways.

1. Handling a radio call that could possibly result in a use of force and city liability---2 days

2. Not waiting to obtain the devine guidence of 3 supervisiors as to what should be done. You need 3 so there would be a consensus---5 days off

3. Not using the taser or the bean bag to subdue the individual resulting in a fight for their lives and a "C Clamp" restraint hold-----10 days

4. Not notifying the concent decree commission so they could take personal charge of options to resolve this violent person--10 days

Police work requires a good dose of common sense and the ability to make instant decisions. With Chief Bratton heading the Department, many had hoped he would instill in his use of force investigators common sense.

I am afraid it is still a burn them to learn them mentality and these two very fine officers will feel the rath of Command Staff who has to let everyone know who is in charge.

Maybe a way to influence the Command Staff and how they evaluate field incidents is to require that they work as a P-2 at least 2 days a Deployment Period in a B&W; police car with a P-2 and handle the load of radio calls. This would indeed open their eyes to what is reality today. You do not know someones job until you are required to walk in their shoes.

Semper Fi guys, you did a great job.

[B&W; Op]

Mr. Sahatjian wrote: "So I’m curious to ask, what was locking up the individual suppose to do beside waste my tax dollars?"

Officers are not in the mental health treatment business, and when they encounter someone who broke the law, they arrest him/her. It will be up to the courts to have the person evaluated and ensure proper treatment is provided to them. If no crime has occurred and there is no immediate public safety concerns, the proper mental health professionals will be summoned to assist the person.

Now, as far as wasting tax dollars, perhaps you might want to contact your elected council member and mayor about the following waste of taxpayer funds:

$60 million + per year on the Consent Decree and upwards of 300 officers working on paper shuffling related to the decree instead of fighting crime in the streets.

$100 million spent on a communication system where the supplier (Motorola) only promised 95% coverage citywide. Not a problem unless an officer misses an emergency call, or can't communicate he or she needs help because they happen to be in a radio "dead zone." By the way, a patrol division that is fairly flat geographically such as Pacific Area, has 13 "dead zones" where the MDCs in the police vehicles are nothing but a useless bunch of wires.

Who would pay 100% of the price for 95% of the goods? The city of Los Angeles, of course. It's not their money. It's YOURS.

Thousand$ of officer/hour$$ wasted daily in the city's jail system, instead of being in the streets fighting crime.

And I could go on and on and on.

Sincerely.

[Ed O'Shea]

Amen Jim Reed.
I would love to have the Chief or any of the Command staff in a Z or A-car with me twice a DP. They BETTER be fit,ready to run and have their minds right! I am quite sure that it would come as a huge shock to most of them, a HUGE SHOCK! The problem is that most of them are not proven as line Officers, and are poor leaders, not all ,but most. Oh yeah, and they can run these worthless new MDT's.

[JAIL GIRL]

GAB,
YOU ARE RIGHT THE JAILS ARE BEING FILLED WITH PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISORDERS. I WORK IN ONE. BUT WE ARE NOT DOCTORS. WITH A SITUATION LIKE THE ONE THAT OFFICERS LOVATO AND RUIZ WERE IN YOU CANNOT STOP AND EVALUATE YOU HAVE TO TAKE ACTION. I BELIEVE THE OFFICERS DID A FINE JOB. I KNOW THE OFFICERS PERSONALLY THEY ARE GREAT OFFICERS AND I BELIEVE THEY HANDLED IT WELL.
GLAD TO SEE YOU BACK RUIZ! MISSED YOU.

[john doe p-2]

I agree with Jim Reed. 2 days a DP, that's all we ask! The field changes daily, as well as the radio calls, policy, and procedure. I know first hand that Chief Bratton has called random p-2's, AND p-1's into his office for their take of what's going on in the field. It's a good start, but sorta backwards. How about the chief coming to my office (aka...a black and white)? As officers we are repeatedly reminded of what is generated from the command staff (ie...paperwork, new policies, etc.). Command should return the favor to the boots. Come for a ride? Say.... for 4 back to back 12 hour shifts? Please?