The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has concluded that police were justified when they fatally shot a Denison man in August.
According to a report from Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office released on Tuesday, Sept. 9, Feglys Antonio Campos Arriba, a 36-year-old Cuban migrant, initially cooperated with police before the shooting. But the encounter with a Denison Police Department officer turned violent after Arriba became physically and verbally aggressive and then attacked the officer, biting off a portion of the officer’s left ear, according to the report.
Arriba had lost his job at a Smithfield Foods processing plant about a month before his fatal encounter with Denison police, Pattie Ritchie, an activist with the League of United Latin American Citizens chapter in Denison, previously told the Des Moines Register on behalf of Arriba’s family.
Arriba was homeless and battling mental health issues, Ritchie said. He had been in the United States on a temporary work visa from Cuba that had expired in July, according the attorney general’s report.
Someone contacted the Denison Police Department at about 11:20 p.m. Aug. 15 to report a person sleeping in the city’s Washington Park after hours, according to the report.
The responding officer, Sgt. Alan Romero, found Arriba sitting under a blanket at the back of the park’s bandshell stage.
Romero spoke with Arriba in Spanish. Arriba said he had nowhere to go, and Romero eventually gave him a choice to leave or be arrested for trespassing. Arriba opted to be arrested, stood up and placed his hands behind his back.
But he became aggressive as Romero began to apply handcuffs, according to the report. Over the next 45 seconds, Arriba chased Romero off the stage despite Romero’s use of a Taser and physical force, bit Romero’s ear during a struggle, and then chased the bleeding Romero until he fired his service handgun at Arriba.
Romero had fired his weapon three times at Arriba before the gun malfunctioned and stopped firing, but one of those rounds struck Arriba in the chest. Arriba then continued to chase Romero until he cleared the malfunction and fired three more shots, at which point Arriba fell to the ground.
Emergency medical aid that Romero called for transported both men to the local hospital, where Arriba died from his injuries.
Romero was released from the hospital but continues to receive treatment for his injury, which has caused permanent disfigurement, according to the report.
After Arriba’s death, Ritchie and others who gathered at the park on Aug. 17 to remember him called for more attention to the challenges in finding mental health resources, emergency shelters and housing in the area.
“This is such an unfortunate incident, but let’s talk about homelessness,” Ritchie said. “Let’s talk about not having those resources and training. Focus on that.”
Denison police had contact with Arriba the day before the fatal shooting and officers had advised him that he could stay at Washington Park during the day but could not camp there overnight, according to the attorney general’s report.
Arriba argued with officers that he should be able to stay because it’s a public park.
“Officers coordinated with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office to attempt to get him (Arriba) transported to a shelter in Omaha. Ultimately those efforts were not successful,” according to the report.
Arriba was survived by his parents, two children and three siblings, according to an obituary.
Romero has been with the Denison Police Department since his appointment in July 2018, according to the department’s website.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Denison police justified in killing Cuban migrant who bit officer’s ear, Iowa AG says
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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