Washington Man Cries For Help as He's Beaten to Death By Police

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On May 11, police were called to the parking lot of a University Place, WA apartment complex to talk to a man who was having a delusional episode. Ron Hillstrom, 44, was beaten to death as he screamed for help after neighbors reported that he was walking in a circle requesting assistance.
When police arrived, though, he received anything but that. “I see four officers walking up on him and they’re like, ‘It’s the police,’ and he’s like ‘You’re not the police’, and he goes to run in the circle and as soon as he comes back the police use four tasers at one time,” said neighbor Ashley Patterson said.
A second witness told KOMO News that she heard Hillstrom yell, “They’re out to get me! They’re trying to set me up!”
“One cop had his knee right on his neck, holding him down,” a third witness said. “The other one was down by his feet and two were on each side of him.”
“And then they started beating him. And they just weren’t done until he was dead,” explained yet another witness. “Bam, bam, bam,” she said as she mimicked police actions. “It was horrible. It was absolutely horrific.”
After the four officers tazed the man at once, witnesses say that one of the defenders of the peace used a flashlight to continue to beat the man several times. According to those who witnessed the vicious beating, Hillstrom had a screwdriver in his hand, but did not in anyway use it to threaten the officers.
Hillstrom was taken into custody and died just more than an hour later.
“I knew last night they were gonna kill that man,” Patterson said. “You beat this man to death last night for no reason and we caught you. Period.”
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says that Hillstrom resisted and has a long history with law enforcement. Detective Ed Troyer, despite overwhelming witness testimony–more than a dozen people– and multiple videos that both indicate the officers went overboard, tells a different story. “What the video doesn’t show is everything that led up to that point, to where they had to physically get on him and strike him to try to put him into custody.”
Witnesses, however, say that contrary to the Sheriff’s Office’s claim Hillstrom did not charge the police. “He was just doing what he was doing before the police came,” said one witness. Patterson, crying, feels that there is no justification for what the officers did–period. “I don’t care if you are like that. You don’t get beat to death like that, the way they just did this man,” she said.
The medical examiner says that there were no apparent blows to Hillstrom’s head, but the examination is incomplete so the exact cause of death is undetermined.
Ron Hillstrom’s Facebook account is still active, where friends and family have left kind notes and publicly expressed their sadness at the loss a man who was obviously well-loved. You may leave condolences here, if you feel so inclined.

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