Full Notification

HOLLISTER, CALIFORNIA – February 24, 2022– The Hollister Police Department has released a video from 2016 involving the arrest of Ery Hernandez suspected of being under the influence, assaulting officers and resisting arrest.  The man and our officers were hurt in this incident.  We are releasing video of the incident so that our community can see all the details, in context, in the interest of transparency.
 
On December 19, 2016, Officers were called to the area of San Felipe Road and Maple Road for a report of a person requesting police assistance.  When police arrived, the person was gone.  Later the same person was reported at Juvenile Hall located on Flynn Road.  When police arrived and spoke with the man, identified as Ery Hernandez (27yrs), they determined he did not meet the criteria of 5150 W.I. (72 hr. Detention for Mental Health Evaluation). 
 
Mr. Hernandez displayed symptoms and characteristics of possibly being under the influence of a controlled substance.  Officers began an evaluation to determine if Mr. Hernandez was indeed under the influence.  Mr. Hernandez would not cooperate with officers and became increasingly agitated and confrontational.  The officers decided to place him in handcuffs to be able to safely continue with the evaluation. 
 
When police attempted to handcuff Mr. Hernandez, he began to physically resist and fought with police.  The officers and Mr. Hernandez were confined inside the front lobby of Juvenile Hall and initial calls for help over the police radio were not heard by dispatch.   During the course of the confrontation, police officers deployed pepper spray and at three Taser deployments but they were ineffective.   
 
The officers, with the help of Juvenile Hall staff, were able to exit the confined room and attempted to keep Mr. Hernandez inside until more help arrived.  However, Mr. Hernandez charged the officers in the doorway, continued the assault and attempted to escape.  The surveillance video at Juvenile Hall captured the incident as one of the officers grabbed a hold of Mr. Hernandez to keep him from escaping and the other officer deployed his baton.  The Hollister Police Department did not have body cameras in use in 2016. 
 
The surveillance video depicts our officers issuing commands for Mr. Hernandez to stop resisting, lay flat on the ground and submit to arrest.  During the course of the encounter, Mr. Hernandez kicked at the officers and tried to stand up and escape.   The Hollister officer struck Mr. Hernandez with the baton multiple times when he continued to resist by kicking at the officer or trying to escape. 
 
Mr. Hernandez received a cut to his hand and fractures to his arm as a result of the confrontation and was transported to the hospital for treatment and was later released. 
 
The case has been in the court process for several years due to pending criminal charges and Mr. Hernandez was placed on court ordered Mental Health diversion despite the objections of the District Attorney’s Office.  In 2021, the San Benito Superior court dismissed the charges against Mr. Hernandez despite several other calls since 2016 regarding his violent behavior toward family members and other people in Hollister. 
 
Under state law, this case is now releasable because the case has was adjudicated in court in 2021 and a recent public records request has been submitted.  The Hollister Police Department has released the video in compliance with state law. 
 
The Hollister Police Department takes the conduct of our officers very seriously as well as the compliance of our arrest policy.  Although the information is just now being released, the police department has taken steps (prior to and since 2016) to improve our procedures and training.  Since this incident, the two officers involved, as well as our entire department, have received multiple hours of training including: arrest and control, tactical communication, force options, implicit bias training, de-escalation and Mental Health considerations training. 
 
The Hollister Police Department has also partnered with San Benito County Behavioral Health Department to create our S.A.F.E. team (Support, Awareness, Follow-up & Engagement) to provide emergency and continued assistance to community members suffering with mental and substance abuse matters.  Our S.A.F.E. Team Officer has also provided additional training for all our personnel and more training is continuing. 
 
Although incidents involving great bodily injury to a suspect are extremely rare at the Hollister Police Department, the department would like the residents of Hollister to know we understand the optics of the video likely cause concern and the City has taken and is continuing to take steps to eliminate encounters such as these in the future.  Please understand that due to pending civil litigation, the Hollister Police Department cannot comment any further on the matter. 
 
Here is the link to the police report:
 http://hollister.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-16-3184.pdf
Here is the link to the video of the incident:
https://youtu.be/M6_OwYIjgZY