The First Collegiate Court of the National District has begun the trial against seven police officers and four civilians accused of beating to death 24-year old David de los Santos in a cell of the Ensanche Naco detachment. De los Santos would die on 1 May 2022 from the wounds received.
In the hearing on Wednesday, 14 June 2023, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) presented the testimony of several witnesses and the mother of the victim, Damiana Torres, who spoke of how her son had been tortured for no reason. She called for justice.
David de los Santos was in the Ágora Mall in Santo Domingo and was arrested on 27 April 2022 after an alleged verbal argument with sales clerks in a perfume store that led these to call security. The mall’s security detained de los Santos and he was taken by police officers who handcuffed him from behind.
According to the prosecution file, while David de los Santos was under arrest in the cell of the National Police detachment of the Naco sector, civilians and police officers gave him multiple blows to his skull and other parts of his body for unexplained reasons.
After the beating, the police officers took David de los Santos to the Francisco Moscoso Puello public hospital where he did not receive timely medical attention. When his relatives found him and removed him to the Dario Contreras Trauma Hospital, it was too late and he died from the injuries.
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15 June 2023