Adrian Andrew Martinez was released from federal detention last week.
But now the Huntington Park-born 20-year-old finds himself without a job after he was violently arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Pico Rivera on June 17, and spent several traumatizing days in custody, his body covered in cuts and bruises.
According to his lawyer, the young man’s terrifying ordeal began when he tried to question armed men whom he saw detain an elderly man in the parking lot where the Walmart Martinez worked at is located.
That’s when he stepped in, still in his blue Walmart vest, to question the federal agents about their aggressive treatment of the man, a janitor there at the Pico Rivera Towne Center.
“ He couldn't speak up for himself,” Martinez said. “He didn't understand what they were saying … he just seen a big man with a mask and a gun running towards him. When I pull up, I see just him running across the street in front of my car and this big old man come and grab him by the arms, like yank him.”
He didn’t know the man that was being detained. But he had seen him working there and knew he was a hard worker.