In San Diego, Wild Discrepancies Between Video Footage And A Police Report

Several surveillance cameras inside and outside the store captured the incident and appear to largely back the family’s version of events.

Some of the significant points of contention between police and the family:

• One officer says in a report that Diego Lobaton, who had a key to the store in hand, “attempted to lock the door” to prevent police from going inside. The surveillance video shows otherwise.

On the video, a copy of which was provided to Voice of San Diego along with police reports by the family through their attorney, Diego Lobaton is seen arriving at the store less than a minute behind his brother. Lujan, the officer, walks into the picture and begins talking to him as he unlocks the door. Diego Lobaton pulls the door open, and Lujan nudges him away. At about the same time, Julca’s 3-year-old son is seen on video inside the store, running to the opened door. (The child can be seen on the second video below, from about on 7:28 to 7:58 on the video player, or from about 10:28:53 to 10:29:40 according to the clock at the top of the screen.) The boy is not mentioned in any of the reports.

• Officer Michael Usrey says that at one point Julca “grabbed [the door] and pulled it shut” while Lujan was trying to talk to Luis Lobaton inside. The video doesn’t appear to show Julca holding the door shut, though she may have closed it at some point. But the video does make it clear once Julca opened the door to speak with Lujan, another officer held it open until the cops rushed inside.

• Each report says that the officers were not told that the family owned the store until after arrests were made. One even says that Luis Lobaton “now understands why [officers] were there and was appreciative they were looking out for his mom’s store.”

The family, of course, disputes that.

“I told [Lujan], ‘This is my business.’ I told him Diego had a key to the store. How could he be robbing the store? I told him Diego and Luis are my sons,” Julca said.

Three officers say in their reports that Luis Lobaton assumed a boxer’s or fighter’s stance. Lujan writes that he believed “Lobaton was now in a position to cause bodily harm and or injury to me.”

Luis Lobaton swung at him twice trying unsuccessfully to hit him in the face, said Lujan.

The video shows that Luis Lobaton was inside the store, with his mother standing in front of him, and officers outside on the sidewalk. Luis Lobaton’s left arm is extended, and he’s holding an object with a light, presumably a cell phone, in front of his face. Lobaton said he was attempting to record the interaction on his phone. Lobaton does not appear to swing or lunge at the officers in the video and actually appears to be backpedaling when an officer rushes inside and begins striking him. (Jump to about 7:50 on the video player, or 10:29:31 on the surveillance video clock.)

Beyond videos casting doubt on officers’ accounts of any aggressive actions by Luis Lobaton, there’s another reason the police version doesn’t make much sense:

Luis Lobaton said he has had a brain tumor since he was a child and getting in a fistfight with a cop, or any situation that might invite blows to his head, was the last thing he wanted to do that night.