Mother Of 26-Year-Old Suspect Killed In Officer-Involved Shooting At Hospital Speaks Out
TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) — The mother of a man fatally shot by police inside the ER of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Saturday is speaking out.
Graciela Herrera talked Sunday with CBS2's Greg Mills about the death of her 26-year-old son.
"My only son," said Herrera.
Her son Ruben Ordaz Herrera was shot by police after they said he attacked them, got violent -- including throwing a metal stool at them -- and reached for one of their guns inside the ER.
He was taken to the hospital to tend to injuries he sustained while officers arrested him earlier Saturday.
Cellphone video captured the arrest -- it showed four officers having to subdue him to get him handcuffed.
Someone can be heard telling officers "you guys are overreacting. He does not have no weapons on him." Herrera and two officers sought medical treatment at the ER.
During the confrontation in the ER, hours later, and after police removed his handcuffs, they said he got violent again. An officer shot him once in the chest. He died in the same ER.
"It hurts worse. I couldn't spend time with him when he was dying. He had to die by himself," Herrera said.
Authorities said they got a call about someone throwing bottles at the apartment building behind Hererra's Saturday morning. Residents there told Mills the bottle-throwing has been going on for about a month.
He asked Herrera if Ruben was the one throwing bottles.
"No. He wasn't. But that's what they say. The neighbors called," she said. Herrera insists Ruben was only working on his bike when police arrived on scene.
She says they told him to put his hands up and he did. They told them to walk towards them and she says he did that, too. She says at the point they pepper-sprayed him and threw him to the ground. That is when she said the videotaping started.
Herrera insists her son was not a violent man. She did say he was diagnosed as being bi-polar in 2011, ironically, at the same hospital.
The grieving mom is having trouble putting together what happened.
"To me, to a mother it doesn't make no sense," she said.
The LAPD says their investigation is on-going.
