Sunday April 23, 2023 | 7:56 a.m.
A 23-year-old young man died yesterday after being allegedly lynched by neighbors in the Yohasá neighborhood of Posadas. Through spokespersons for the Misiones Police, El Territorio was able to verify that the attacker died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. For their part, in the neighborhood they pointed to police action as the cause of death.
The victim was identified as José María Benítez (23), who, according to what was reconstructed, at approximately 2:30 a.m. tried to attack his sister with a knife, who was at her home located in the so-called farm 112.
Police sources said that before that, the residents of the area tried to throw the young man out with stones and with several blows with their fists and kicks. Due to the blows, Benítez was left lying in a ditch, with several injuries of different considerations.
The troops of the Sixth Police Station were alerted to this situation after 3 o’clock. When they went to the scene located between 113 and 74 streets, they interviewed 44-year-old Sandra.
The woman told the agents that her brother showed up at her house euphoric, with symptoms of being under the influence of drugs.
In turn, he contributed that he was shouting his name to get him out. Given this, Sandra opened the door and noticed that her brother had a knife and that he was heading towards her. That’s why she quickly locked herself up again to protect herself from the attacker. However, the young man did not stop and broke the glass of the access door to try to enter.
The young man broke the glass of his sister’s house to try to enter.
As a result of the 44-year-old woman’s cries for help, neighbors and passers-by tried to run him down with stones and already on the street they beat him among several people, dispersing when the uniformed officers arrived.
Police spokesmen mentioned to this medium that José María was on the side of the street, in a ditch. As they approached the young man, they noticed that he had visible injuries. However, he refused to be taken to the hospital.
In the same way and urgently they referred him in a mobile to the hospital, but after a few meters he went into a seizure. The uniformed officers performed CPR until the arrival of the ambulance, whose health professionals upon his arrival determined the young man’s death.
By order of the Justice, members of the jurisdictional police station carried out investigations to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the attack. For this reason, the brothers Walter V. (22) and Arnaldo V. (18) were arrested, in addition to Maximiliano A. (30) and Anthoni P. (19).
Likewise, a perimeter cordon was established at the site for the work of surveys and expert reports from the Scientific Police.
By order of the authorities of the First Investigating Court, in charge of Marcelo Cardozo, the body was taken to the judicial morgue to determine the causes of death.
Sandra, the deceased’s sister, told El Territorio that she did not understand what had happened, since “my brother appeared after many years, wanted to attack me with a knife and broke the glass of my door, trying to get between the broken glass ”, adding that “luckily some neighbors were drinking tere in the street and they helped me to get it out”.
When asked what she believed to be the reason for the attack, the woman stated that she did not know the reason, because “the last time she came to my house, she was 10 or 12 years old. Then he went to high school and I didn’t see him again, I didn’t even have his phone number because he is a brother on his father’s side, ”she closed.
Neighbors version
This medium toured the scene, where the different residents of the narrow block of 113th Street stated that the death of José María was not due to blows inflicted by the locals, but that the uniformed men themselves beat the young man when they took him to the patrol car , causing his death.
One of the witnesses indicated that the neighbors grabbed him so that he would not escape in the state of euphoria in which he was. When they held him back, they took him to the side of the house to calm him down. But it happen the opposite.
“He jumped into the gutter and started spinning. He also began to hit the stones that were in the ditch with his head while he yelled that his sister never wanted him, ”he alleged, adding that the reason for his behavior could be because he was under the influence of drugs.
Minutes later, according to what the interviewee said, they tried to lift him out of the ditch so that he would sit down and stop injuring himself, at which time the troops from the Sixth Police Station arrived.
He also stated that when the police arrived they tried to handcuff Benítez, but he jumped into the gutter and resisted. Then the uniformed officers, unable to get him to get up, dragged him towards the patrol car between struggles and then beat him.
“When they got to the corner where the patrol car was, the police started beating him. One of them kicked him in the head. From that moment he did not react anymore and the ambulance already took him unconscious, ”he explained.
Regarding the four detainees, he mentioned that “they are being blamed because they appeared in the video where they are grabbing the boy.”
On the other hand, María, a neighbor who lives a few meters from where the uniformed officers allegedly beat Benítez, contributed: “I saw how they stepped on his head when he was on the floor. He also got kicked in the rib area ”.
“Then they put him in the car and the boy was yelling a lot, asking them to call his dad. Until at one point nothing else is heard, ”he continued, adding that minutes later the police unit withdrew from the place, leaving Benítez lying on the side of the street.
“I saw that on the news portals they said that the boy died in the ditch, but he died in the patrol car. Supposedly the policemen did CPR on him, but I only saw that they brought him here and beat him, ”he closed.
video evidence
On the other hand, the neighbors mentioned that several filmed both the moment of the brawl and when the policemen dragged the victim to the patrol car. Regarding the first, official spokespersons reported that personnel from the Cybercrime Division proceeded to extract the video that was on the victim’s sister’s cell phone, in which part of the brawl is observed.
Regarding the second, there is still no film evidence to confirm what has been stated.
In figures
4They are those arrested for the murder of José María Benítez (23). All neighbors, who allegedly were part of those who arrested the young man.
