There's much more COVID news still to come, but first, the story of a gay man found dead; his last days clouded by controversy and ridicule.
Tonight, the family of 25-year-old Ulysease Roca, a resident of Willows Bank Village, is grieving his sudden passing. They are also pointing fingers at the police for allegedly playing a role in his demise.
He found dead yesterday by a relative, and at this time, his loved-ones don't know what caused his health to take such a sudden turn for the worse. They do concede, however, that Roca was an HIV-positive patient, and both he and his family members have alleged that about 2 weeks ago, he was beaten while he was in custody for breaking the 8 p.m.
That's bad enough, but police are also coming under fire for recording Roca on a personal cellphone, while he was in custody. So now, the cops have 2 allegations of abuse of authority that they must address.
Our news team has been following the case for most of today, and Daniel Ortiz put together this report:
To say that 25-year-old Ulysease Roca was having a rough few days before his death would be an understatement.
On April 5th, he was picked up by police for breaking the curfew. That translated into a fine of three thousand dollars.
But then, while in detention, a police officer recorded this video of him, which depicts him as a sort of homeless degenerate.
Ulysease Roca - In Police Detention
"B Honey World, and Info Iconic Sales, check it online if you don't believe me. And this lady will look at me and tell me that I am homeless. I've been working since I was 15. I graduated from BRHS, Miss, at 15 years-old."
Male Speaker
"Do you see those socks? (Laughs) Did you sew those socks too?"
Ulysease Roca
"Mister, this is not socks. These are gloves."
Female Speaker
"No, no, no! Please don't. What happened to you. Oh my Gosh!"
Male Speaker
(laughs)
Ulysease Roca
"You're disturbing..."
Female Speaker
"Please, don't."
Ulysease Roca
"I literally just put Clorox on my feet, miss."
Most residents would think twice about insulting a police officer while in their custody for fear of a police beatdown. Roca retaliated defiantly by dissing one of the policemen:
Male Speaker
"Did you design those too?"
Ulysease Roca
"I didn't design them. They're just socks, come on."
Male Speaker
"But just now, you told me it's a glove."
Ulysease Roca
"Well, you are very dumb."
That video was leaked and shared on Facebook, where many saw it. Roca claimed that as a result, he became a walking punchline. Roca also claims that while he was in police detention, he was assaulted by a police officer, who struck him in the face.
Shortly after being released from custody, friends and relative noticed that his left jaw had massive swelling.
He decided that he would break his silence and publicly demand that those who found his misery amusing to leave him alone.
Ulysease Roca
"A part of me is here and I'm thinking like am I gonna go to special branch and am I going to make a report and make this thing bigger than what it is right now, because here you are and you are videoing me and you're making me look like a fool, why? I'm going through a lot. I'm going through the biggest transition of my life. I lost my mom. Like can you let me grieve for her? You don't see what I am doing, you don't see my potential as an artist, like you're worried that I am gay, like that's it. So I deserve this and what, you officers are just gonna walk free and it's the end of it? Come on."
Delita Roca - Sister of the Deceased
"As far as we know Friday which was the 3rd April he was at my sister's house and she said that he left from here a little after 8, which as we all know the curfew is at 8pm. He left from there and I guess the police picked him up and detained him. He had told my sister that with the beating that he already received at the station, on top of that the officer hit him in the face with a machete."
According to his family, he started facing medical distress from his injury to the face, which, according to them, was compounded by his status as an HIV-positive patient.
Yesterday, he was found dead inside his late mother's house in Willows Bank. A post-mortem says that he died organ failure due to complications related to HIV. They think that his infected jaw is directly connected with his sudden passing.
Delita Roca
"Me personally I will say I am a diabetic okay, when I had an infection in my mouth, my whole half my jaw was swollen up. As diabetics and HIV patients when we get an infection, our body doesn't heal like a regular person, so in a matter of days we can go just like that. So if he had an infection like we know we saw and I can tell you from experience, I feel it's that."
Even after his distress, some of which was allegedly at the hands of police, Roca was still optimistic. His sudden passing has caught his loved ones off-guard
Ulysease Roca
"Despite what you think of me, what you may say about me, being HIV positive is not the end of the world. For me, it's a big transition in my life having to take a medication very day, but I do it. I try to protect myself, I try to stay safe like I have so much that my cup is up here and you keep adding acid and fire and anger and animosity in my life, like it's not fair to me, but you'll never see me breakdown to the point where I will hurt myself. You will not get that from me. I don't want any problems with anyone okay. I am asking to remove that video because it's not funny."
Delita Roca
"The video that they put out was just horrible, because nobody deserves to be treated like that. Nobody deserves to be beaten and treated like an animal."
Caleb Orozco - UNIBAM
"The neighbors who were close to him could explain. Where he lived, he was stigmatized for being feminine. Where he lived, his parents were not exactly mentally there. Where he lived, because of his dark skin that did not help and where he lived he was poor. So it's an intersectional issue of ethnicity, of economic standing, of sexuality, of mental health and when you have so much things against you, something has to go wrong badly. He died from a lack of empathy."
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