Sexual assault suspect beaten by bystanders in Santa Ana dies in police custody
A 31-year-old man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman at a McDonald’s in Santa Ana was chased and beaten by two witnesses, then died in police custody, according to authorities.
Xavier Rashawn Moore was accused of putting his hands into a woman’s pants while she was getting something out of her car shortly after 8 p.m. on Oct. 4, the Santa Ana Police Department said in a video summary released Tuesday.
She provided a description to a 911 dispatcher but said the man ran away and was being chased by two bystanders who saw the assault, according to an audio transcript.
A short time later, another person called 911 to report that two men were beating another man outside a home in the 1600 block of West Stanford Street, down the street from the fast food restaurant.
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The dispatcher asked the witness whether the men were still attacking the other man.
“Not anymore. Well, he’s on the floor. He looks pretty beat up,” the unidentified witness said.
Officers found the man, later identified as Moore, motionless on the ground. “This is probably our guy from McDonald’s,” one officer said as they approached him.
Moore did not respond to the officers when they ordered him to put his hands behind his back or roll over onto his stomach. He groaned as police handcuffed him.
Officers said Moore spit out a small bag containing narcotics, but it was not visible in the edited officer-worn body camera video released by the Police Department.
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“What is that? Xavier, what was that?” an officer asks.
“I don’t know,” Moore says.
Moore continues to answer the officer while lying on the ground, his voice muffled.
“They beat my ass,” Moore repeated to the officer.
On Oct. 6, less than 48 hours later, Moore was declared brain-dead while in police custody because of “underlying medical complications,” and he died during emergency surgery on an unspecified date, according to authorities.
The cause of Moore’s death is unknown pending an investigation by the medical examiner’s office, according to Santa Ana Police Officer Natalie Garcia. His death could be ruled a homicide if it is determined he died as a result of the injuries from the beating, Garcia said. Authorities are also looking into whether he ingested any narcotics from the small bag that police said he had in his mouth.
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Homicide detectives and investigators from the Santa Ana Police Department’s internal affairs unit and the Orange County district attorney’s office are looking into the in-custody death to determine whether state laws and department standards were followed.
Moore was a resident of Santa Ana and was required to register as a sex offender for charges stemming from indecent exposure and lewd acts with a child under 14, according to police. Moore was also previously charged with narcotics possession.
The two men who attacked Moore have not been identified by authorities. One of the men complied with investigators during an interview, Garcia said, but the second person has not been interviewed. Police are not pressing charges against the men at this time.
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