Man dies in police custody, family searching for answers - KFOX El Paso

A man dies after he was in police custody and believed to be on drugs, and his family spoke to KFOX14 making serious allegations against the police.

Around 6 p.m. on Oct. 24, El Paso Police responded to a disturbance call on the 4400 block of Moonlight Avenue.

According to the incident report, a man, later identified as Jesus Salas, had been in a verbal altercation with another person. Witnesses said Salas was "acting crazy" when, according to police, he took off on foot.

"My brother was running around, he was only in shorts, he had no shoes, and that he was running around knocking on everybody's doors saying that he was fighting the devil and so forth," said Jose Salas, Jesus Salas' brother.

This story coming from a neighbor, one who lived in the same apartment complex as Jesus Salas.

Police reports state Salas ran from police, took a fighting stance, tried to flee again then fell to the ground.

Another nearby neighbor telling Jose Salas his account of the evening.

"He goes, is your brother still alive? And I'm like, what do you mean is my brother still alive? And he goes yeah, because after they tazed him, they handcuffed him and he didn't move anymore," said Jose.

But police have a different story, issuing a statement reading in part:

"...I can tell you that at no time during the incident did any officer deploy a Taser on Mr. Salas."

Jose Salas also questions the department's response time in treating his brother.

"The police report was filed at about 5:57 pm. The ICU told us that they didn't receive my brother until almost 7 p.m., so I don't know what happened between that hour."

The police department responding:

"...any allegation of delayed medical treatment is completely false, as Fire Medical Services arrived within approximately 6 minutes to treat Mr. Salas, who was still conscious. "

However, his family denies that, saying he never regained consciousness in the ICU. Jesus Salas was officially taken off life support on Oct. 26.

"We want answers that they won't give us. We still can't get any answers from them, they still can't come clean to us what happened that day," said Jose.

"A cause of death has not been determined pending the results of toxicology. However, I can tell you that at no time during the incident did any officer deploy a Taser on Mr. Salas."

Police reports stated that Salas had indicators of inhalants around his nose and mouth.

There has been no word on when a toxicology report will be released.