ELK GROVE–Omar Mendoza, A 25-year-old Sacramento man was arrested and taken into custody early Tuesday morning, September 1, after he physically fought with officers, and even bit one of them.
It took five officers and one police dog to subdue the man, who was described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds. He had not been slowed down by initial efforts, that included being tasered.
Omar Mendoza in a hospital gown for his booking photo
“The patrol sergeant at the scene described the suspect’s strength as superhuman,” said police spokesman Officer Chris Trim. “We are going under the assumption he was under the influence of something.”
Officers were called at about 2:30 a.m. after receiving a report of a suspicious man hanging around an ATM machine outside the Wells Fargo Bank at 8872 Bond Road in Elk Grove. When officers tried to detain the man, a struggle began. During the scuffle, the man bit one officer on the hand, breaking the skin. Another officer deployed her police dog and the man fought with the animal.
The officer called her dog back to her side and another officer deployed his Taser, which had no effect. The man tried to escape so the dog was deployed again and this time bit the man on his lower body. More officers responded to take him into custody. He was placed in a “Wrap restraint system”, a nylon apparatus that forces an uncooperative suspect to sit upright.
Trim said suspects restrained with the Wrap are not forced to lie face down. The device is considered to be a safer alternative to the previous police practice of hog-tying a person who could not be controlled.
Mendoza was taken to a hospital, and once treated he was taken to jail Wednesday afternoon and booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance, resisting or obstructing an officer, assault with a deadly weapon, malicious harm of an officer’s dog, and violating probation. Mendoza resides in South Sacramento, about 5 miles from the scene.
The bitten officer was not taken to the hospital and is doing fine.
