The Leal family is now focusing on putting that ugly San Pedro beat down behind them. As we have reported, the two officers PC Tyrell Rowley and PC Samir Medina will be charged criminally. Now what do these officers have to say for themselves? Well, the shocking video and Leal's account of the event has taken over the spotlight but the officers have their own version. 7News has a copy of both Medina and Rowley's official statements. In it, Rowley says that they were called out to respond to a fight at Playa Bar and Grill. When they got there, they saw about 5 men engaged in a fight. Rowley says that is when he intervened and Jamir Leal punched him in the face. Leal continued throwing punches at him hitting him again in the chest. Rowley's statement then reads "I informed the male person that he had committed an offense of Assaulting a police officer and attempted to detain the male person, however, he began to resist and he continued throwing kicks and punches hitting me over my body. A second male person later identified as Mario Leal who was wearing a black and grey long sleeve shirt also approached me and began throwing punches at me however none caught me. The statement continues by saying "This second person (Mario Leal) then grabbed me on the left arm pulling me into the crowd". Rowley said the crowd approached them in an aggressive manner. But that is not all. The statement continues "I then felt as if though someone was trying to remove my holstered firearm which was on the right side of my waist to which I immediately became in fear for my life and I took actions to remove myself from between the raging crowd. PC Medina and I then managed to remove the 2 male persons that had assaulted me and one of the other male persons who was engaged in the fight. Force was used to detain and subdue all 3 male persons." Obviously Rowley didn't go into too much detail to describe how much force was used - but the video says it all. We will keep following this case to see what the tribunal will decide.
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The Leal family is now focusing on putting that ugly San Pedro beat down behind them. As we have reported, the two officers PC Tyrell Rowley and PC Samir Medina will be charged criminally. Now what do these officers have to say for themselves? Well, the shocking video and Leal's account of the event has taken over the spotlight but the officers have their own version. 7News has a copy of both Medina and Rowley's official statements. In it, Rowley says that they were called out to respond to a fight at Playa Bar and Grill. When they got there, they saw about 5 men engaged in a fight. Rowley says that is when he intervened and Jamir Leal punched him in the face. Leal continued throwing punches at him hitting him again in the chest. Rowley's statement then reads "I informed the male person that he had committed an offense of Assaulting a police officer and attempted to detain the male person, however, he began to resist and he continued throwing kicks and punches hitting me over my body. A second male person later identified as Mario Leal who was wearing a black and grey long sleeve shirt also approached me and began throwing punches at me however none caught me. The statement continues by saying "This second person (Mario Leal) then grabbed me on the left arm pulling me into the crowd". Rowley said the crowd approached them in an aggressive manner. But that is not all. The statement continues "I then felt as if though someone was trying to remove my holstered firearm which was on the right side of my waist to which I immediately became in fear for my life and I took actions to remove myself from between the raging crowd. PC Medina and I then managed to remove the 2 male persons that had assaulted me and one of the other male persons who was engaged in the fight. Force was used to detain and subdue all 3 male persons." Obviously Rowley didn't go into too much detail to describe how much force was used - but the video says it all. We will keep following this case to see what the tribunal will decide.