• Tools:
• Save |
• Print |
• E-mail |
• Most Popular |

Man in YouTube arrest video to be freed

Adjust font size:

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man whose violent arrest by Los Angeles Police officers was videotaped and posted on YouTube was scheduled to be released from jail Wednesday.

William Cardenas, 23, made an unexpected appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

He pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of fleeing from police. Two felony resisting arrest charges against him were dropped.

A gang enhancement to the charges was also dropped, Kwaku Duren, Cardenas' attorney, told reporters.

Duren said his client "is still somewhat dismayed by the assault that he suffered ... and he would like to see justice."

Asked whether that meant money, Duren replied, "In today's world, that means money."

After the paperwork is processed, Cardenas will be released on a one-year suspended sentence and three years of probation. (Watch the YouTube video of Cardenas' arrest -- 1:50 )

He has been in jail since his arrest August 11.

Los Angeles Police Department officers recognized him for being wanted on a felony warrant for receiving stolen property.

According to the arrest report, Cardenas was apprehended "after a struggle" in which one officer struck him because he "continued to grab" at another officer.

The arrest was videotaped by someone who witnessed it and was later posted on YouTube, where it was seen worldwide and eventually picked up by major news outlets.

The video shows both officers on top of Cardenas, with one officer's knee pressed into his neck. Cardenas is heard on the tape saying, "I can't breathe."

According to the LAPD, the videotaped footage was first made public September 14 at Cardenas' preliminary hearing on charges of resisting arrest and the felony warrant.

U.S. condemns 'inhuman brutality' in Syria The U.N. Security Council on Sunday condemned the weekend massacre of more than 100 civilians in Syria, with members casting blame on government forces for ...

---

• Horror of Syrian massacre unfolds
• Milestone in flesh-eating bacteria fight
• Report describes atrocities within North Korea's labor camps
• Report: Chinese official confesses to rape
• Beryl whips northwest Florida and southern Georgia

• Beryl makes landfall in north Florida
• Relative: Suspect in Patz case told family
• Flesh-eating bacteria patient speaks
• Japan: Americans held in Irish death
• Vatican pressed on missing girl case

• Talkin' 'Icky Thump' blues (1:40)
• 'Why you treat yourself bad?' (3:15)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)
• Unseemly rap lyrics targeted (3:29)
• Now In The News