Hundreds of local Facebook users are weighing in on a viral video showing an El Paso Police officer pointing a gun at a group of children.
Jacob Saucedo posted the video on Facebook Friday night. The video racked up millions of views and thousands of shares.
Police say the incident happened Thursday outside the Seville Recreation Center located at the corner of Sambrano and Seville in South-Central El Paso.
According to a news release, officers arrived to the scene on a criminal trespass call.
The five-minute-long video begins with the officer pointing his gun at the kids after they crowded around him yelling obscenities as he detained a teenager for an unknown reason.
KTSM learned that the teenager in the video is 15-year-old Jacob Saucedo.
In the video, Saucedo passed the phone to a woman, who is his mother, Michelle Flores.
“Just because he’s my son, he’s going to take him in. What a (expletive),” she said as one officer escorted the boy to the police unit. “Why is he picking on little kids.”
Saucedo tells KTSM he believes the altercation started because he was walking across the street when the officers arrived to take their initial call. He says the officers told him to get “against the wall” for questioning.
Saucedo said he asked the officers why since he did not do anything.
Both Saucedo and the officers had an exchange of words and that is when, Saucedo says, one officer took him down and choked him.
“I’m just mad because I don’t know why the officer just choked me,” said Saucedo.
According to EPPD, the officer that pulled out his gun is under investigation.
“He is still working and will be on desk duty until the investigation is complete,” says Dionne Mack, the Deputy City Manger for Safety and Support Services.
EPPD also confirmed two people were detained and charged with interfering with duties of a police officer.
