Mother, 36, dies after four cops restrain her and one kneels on her neck, snapping her vertebrae, during arrest for being drunk and disorderly in Mexico
- Victoria Salazar died after she was arrested in Tulum, Mexico, on Saturday
- The 36-year-old had been stopped by the police for alleged public intoxication and disorderly conduct, according to news outlet Milenio
- Video footage shows a female police officer kneeling on the Salvadoran woman’s back and pinning her neck to the ground
- The four cops who arrested Salazar have been suspended as part of an ongoing investigation and were expected to be placed under arrest Monday
- Salazar’s death was caused by a ‘rupture of the first and second vertebrae’
Mexican authorities are investigating the death of a Salvadoran woman who died after a police officer kneeled on top of her during an arrest.
Video recorded by a bystander in the resort town of Tulum shows the moment Victoria Salazar, 36, was pinned to the ground by a female cop on Saturday.
The municipal police officer then grabs Salazar’s left hand while a male officer leans over to handcuff the woman.
The female cop subsequently placed her hand on Salazar’s neck and presses it against the street pavement while another male cop looks down at them.
Salvadoran migrant and mother-of-two, Victoria Salazar, died Saturday in Tulum, Mexico, moments after she was placed under arrest by cops, who were reportedly investigating her for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Authorities have suspended four cops pending as part of the investigation
A female police officer is captured on video kneeling on top of Victoria Salazar in Tulum on Saturday
Separate footage shows a cop who had just arrived telling one of the arresting officers, ‘she is breathing.’ The agent snapped back and told him, ‘now, now, look she is breathing … she moved the mouth.’
Witness video also shows the female law enforcement agent attempting to move an unresponsive Salazar before three cops lifted her from the ground and placed her body on the back of a patrol pickup truck.
News outlet Milenio reported that Salazar was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
Cops assigned to the Tulum Municipal Police stand next to the body of Victoria Salazar, who death was caused by a fracture vertebrae due to the excessive force that was applied by the police, according to a state attorney general’s summary of a medical examiner’s report
A police officer is seen pinning Victoria Salazar’s neck to the ground before she was handcuffed
The four arresting cops have been suspended and are expected to be placed under arrest Monday, according to Óscar Montes de Oca, the attorney general for the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Montes de Oca said that a report by the medical examiner’s ‘identified a fracture in the upper part of the spinal column produced by the rupture of the first and second vertebrae, which caused the loss of the victim’s life.’
Montes de Oca added that ‘the police technique of body control applied and the level of force used was carried out in a disproportionate and moderate way and with a high risk to life since it was not in accordance with the resistance of the victim, which caused a deceleration with the rotation of the neck , thereby violating the provisions of the National Law on the use of force.’
The incident is similar to the death of George Floyd who died in Minneapolois in May 2020.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was apprehended for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to make a purchase.
Derek Chauvin, who was one of the four law enforcement agents who responded to the call, was seen on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes. Chauvin’s trial in the killing of Floyd started today.
Cops carried Salazar’s body into the back of a patrol pickup truck moments after she was lying on the ground unresponsive
Sources told Milenio that Salazar, a mother-of-two, emigrated to Mexico and later received a humanitarian visa, which permitted her to remain in the country.
Mexican authorities have been working with their Salvadoran counterparts to repatriate Salazar’s body back home.
‘I am sure that the Mexican Government will apply the full weight of the law to those responsible,’ El Salvador President Nayib Bukele wrote in a tweet published Monday morning.
‘We are brotherly nations, there are bad people everywhere, let’s not forget that. My condolences to Victoria’s family, especially her two daughters, to whom we will give all possible help.’
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