A 42-year-old man was declared brain dead days after a violent confrontation with police, and now his family questions the Montclair Police Department’s account of what happened and why it used force against him.
Antonio Ibáñez is on life support at Montclair Hospital Medical Center after police used a taser and batons to detain him on March 5, said Humberto Guizar, the Ibáñez family attorney. Guizar said the family believed Ibanez needed help when officers were called to the 4100 block of Mission Boulevard after midnight when someone reported that a man armed with an object was threatening a woman.
The woman who had called police was in her car with her daughters when she was confronted by the suspect, according to authorities. She believed he was under the influence of drugs, police said.
Ibanez rented a room in the woman’s home, Guizar said.
“As officers attempted to detain the suspect, a use of force occurred,” police said. “Once he was arrested, medical assistance was requested.”
Guizar said that he and the Ibáñez family have found inconsistencies in the police report. Despite communicating several times, he said, the Ibáñez family has not heard from the Police Department about what happened.
“The Police Department has not been very transparent,” Guizar said, adding that the Ibáñez family is considering legal action.
Montclair police said they turned the investigation over to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
The relatives also wonder why it took police officers five days to reveal the details of the incident to the public.
Guizar said he and other attorneys for the family have interviewed the woman who called police and she did not mention that Ibanez was armed during the incident.
“If that were the case, we want to hear the 911 call,” Guizar said.
Ibanez’s family has made a series of public records requests, hoping to obtain copies of the 911 call, body camera footage and radio traffic to better understand what happened.
“Based on our interview that we did with (the woman who called 911), he was acting strange, just strange, and she was worried that he might hurt himself or someone else, so she called for help,” she said. “There was no immediate threat of harm to anyone.”
