LAPD officers repeatedly restrained a hooded, handcuffed jail inmate who died minutes later

On July 15, 2026, around 3:40 a.m., Los Angeles Police Department detention officers at the Valley Jail Section removed 59-year-old Jose Carlos Hoyos-Munoz from a holding cell to fingerprint him during booking. According to LAPD's own account, Hoyos-Munoz became combative — spitting at and attempting to bite officers — and detention officers used firm grips, knee strikes, and body weight to restrain him, placed a spit-prevention hood over his head, and put him in a five-point restraint chair [1][2]. After further struggling, including climbing onto his cell's toilet, officers returned him to a bunk and held him face-down in a prone position while several officers restrained him; his handcuffs were then removed [1][2]. Approximately 20 minutes later, officers re-entered the cell and found Hoyos-Munoz unconscious and not breathing. He did not respond to medical treatment and was pronounced dead at the scene [1]. LAPD characterized each use of force as "non-categorical" — its term for a physical intervention resulting in minor or no injuries — and reported three detention officers sustained minor injuries [1].

Hoyos-Munoz had been arrested two days earlier, on July 13, after an eight-hour standoff at a Chatsworth home where he was accused of assaulting family members with a deadly weapon; he surrendered to a SWAT team and was treated at a hospital for exposure to chemical agents before being taken to Valley Jail Section [1][2].

Updates

2026-08 — LAPD released video; mayor ordered independent review [2][3]

LAPD released body-camera and jail-security video of the Hoyos-Munoz incident, alongside footage of a separate fatal officer-involved shooting of Alejandro Luis Garcia on July 29. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the footage "incredibly difficult to watch" and said she would issue an executive directive calling for an independent evaluation of deaths and severe injuries involving police, with particular attention to cases involving people in a behavioral health crisis.