OGDEN, Utah — A video shared on social media showing multiple Ogden police officers striking a man who appeared to be pinned down on the ground has the man's mother upset.
While the Ogden Police Department hasn't identified the man in the video at this time, Marsha Quintana says that man is her 30-year-old son, Shawn Sims.
"Watching that video was rough," said Quintana. "That was hard to see my son on the ground, submissive, detained, held down and still beaten."
Quintana tells FOX 13 News she was unaware her son was behind bars in the Weber County Jail until he called her.
She says Sims told her he had been beaten and there was a video taken of the incident.
"He said that the hospital had told him that he had some hairline fractures in his ribs, his jaw... his nose was broken, both orbital sockets were broken and that he would never see out of his right eye again," said Quintana.
Quintana says her son could have been jaywalking, was intoxicated and on drugs at the time of the incident, which take place on the side of Washington Blvd. near 18th Street in Ogden Saturday night.
Regardless, she says it doesn't justify what she saw in the video.
"He wasn't a threat to those officers. He was going the other way, he was running away, he wasn't running toward them, he didn't have any weapons on him," said Quintana. "That's an assault — that's police brutality."
She says her son has had prior instances with police, but nothing like this.
"September, two years ago, Shawn had a manic episode, a suicidal episode. The officers that came to our house saved my son's life," said Quintana.
She told FOX 13 News if those same officers encountered Sims on Saturday, she believes things would have gone differently.
On Sunday, the Ogden Police Department put out a statement saying they were aware of a use of force incident involving their officers. They said that prior to the video being released, they had begun an after-action use of force investigation.
FOX 13 reached out to the department again on Monday with several questions pertaining to this incident.
Ogden Police replied that they have no comment and will not be releasing any information until all the facts of the case and evidence are investigated by the internal affairs team.
FOX 13 News asked Quintana what she hopes happens going forward.
"My hope is that justice is served for my son. My hope is that these officers are held accountable for their actions," she said.
Quintana says after watching the video, she has since obtained an attorney.
