Claremont family demands answers after loved one dies in police custody

Friends and family of a Rancho Cucamonga man who died while in police custody in Claremont over the weekend are demanding answers about the moments leading up to his death. 

On Friday afternoon at around 3:15 p.m., Claremont Police Department officers were dispatched to Claremont Boulevard and Andrew Drive after receiving calls about a man who was "acting erratically and possibly under the influence of narcotics," said a news release shared by the department on Saturday. 

Officers said that Rios had gotten into a car and driven away from the area before they located him a short distance away. When they pulled him over and asked him to exit the vehicle because he appeared to be driving while under the influence, a "use-of-force" incident occurred, the release said. During that incident, Rios became unconscious, police said. 

The officers said that they attempted life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, but Rios died after being taken to a nearby hospital. His cause of death has still not been revealed. 

Loved ones described him as a beautiful son, friend and brother. 

"The terror he must have been feeling at the time, it tears me up," said Rios's older brother Victor. "I can only imagine his fear and agony in the moment. He's a human being."

Some people who witnessed Friday's incident told Rios's family that officers pinned him to the ground while he yelled out that he was unable to breathe. 

While the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Rios's friends and family are demanding answers for what they believe could have been avoided. 

"He was the most kind, non-combative person that you can imagine," Victor Rios said. "He was a friend. He was a peacekeeper, so it doesn't compute what they're saying, that he resisted arrest."

They're urging police to release more information and video of the incident, claiming that they posted fliers around Claremont asking for more details. They say that the city had them taken down.