Videographer Luis Ibáñez was arrested and detained against a police vehicle bumper in the early morning of Saturday, July 30, 2022 at 12:30 AM.

A police officer detained Luis, known by his friends as “Opti” in Mocorito Street, in front of the Hipódromo. According to Luis’ statements, once he was detained, following police orders, he was scolded by the officer who never introduced himself or asked him for his official documents (which is routine procedure). The officer just stated that Luis had marihuana in his vehicle and that he was going to find it.

Moments later, he is forced to get off the vehicle with all his belongings which were laid out on the police car’s trunk. Once Luis leaves his belongings on the trunk, he is cuffed with no explanation to the police car’s bumper. The detained is worried about the pressure caused by the cuffs since his veins are delicate, due to having cancer. The officer, however, ignores this statement by Luis who had said this before being cuffed.

The officer starts to look for marihuana inside Luis’ vehicle. This event was documented by a civilian who was in the area, at the same time in the early morning. The person was recording the moment where Luis, desperate, asks the officer to show some compassion since he hadn’t committed any crime, since he was worried about being a victim of the police officer’s corruption.

Luis, according to the video, was coming home from work when he was stopped. According to the recordings by the anonymous witness and the statements that Luis was able to make during this incident, the officer was trying to plant an illegal substance to make him look guilty, so that he could do then ask for a bribe or monetary agreement.

My name is Luis Ibañez, I was stopped by police car "BC 329A-1". I am coming home from work. I take pictures, and record videos. This man [police officer] immediately told me “You have marihuana, where is the marihuana?" I was not drugged and I didn’t take any alcohol. He was taking advantage of the fact that I was alone and he was searching me… I don’t know if he was going to pin something on me...

The victim screamed to the camera that he has cancer which is why he is not able to lose any more money, while asking the officer to give him his name. Moments later, the police officer asks the witness to move somewhere else since he is stopping traffic and he could give him a ticket.

Fortunately, Luis didn’t lose any money during this incident. He said that this is because the officer realized that he was being recorded. He added that once his supposed checkup was finished, he removed his cuffs, yelling that he was cokehead more than once.

Luis is a resident of this area where this abuse of authority was carried out by the police. He said that this is common and that in Mocorito Street, exactly where he was stopped, the police constantly extort people. It is not the first time either that he had to go through something similar. However, he mentions that previously he had tried being friendly with officers, trying to avoid this type of situations. During this last incident, Luis’ manners did not matter, and he has already reported the officer.