It was another Wednesday for aging YouTuber Jose “Chille” DeCastro as he livestreamed on from a protest by the family of a California man who died while in police custody last month after an incident at a McDonalds in Riverside, California.
Peter Villalobos died last month after a conflict with police when he was trespassed from a McDonalds for refusing to come out of a bathroom stall. As there seemed to be communication issues between the officer on scene and Villalobos, the officer attempted to place the man in handcuffs until he could be properly identified.
Villalobos struggled with the officer and a second officer joined the first in the attempt to cuff the man. He broke free from the officers and a chase ensued around the exterior of the McDonalds, resulting in Villalobos being forcibly taken to the ground.
DeCastro contended that Villalobos was severely beaten by the officers when they attempted to apprehend him. In his original livestream on the subject, DeCastro gleefully zoomed in to over 2000x and described blows that did not correspond to what was seen on the footage in front of him.
While Villalobos appeared talkative and fine after his apprehension, later in the day he suffered a medical issue that resulted in his death. According to his family, a private autopsy showed that Villalobos died from injuries from blunt force trauma. The official Riverside County coroner’s report has not been released as of press time.
DeCastro’s livestream started with the family of Villalobos chanting outside of the Riverside Police Department. The YouTuber aimlessly wandered around the scene, going from family member to family member, quietly bragging about his viewership of his original stream reached nearly a million people.
He then walked away from the scene, attempting to enter the police station with the intention of interviewing police chief Larry Gonzalez. DeCastro was told by the clerk working reception that the chief was not available and that she could not answer questions about the death of Villalobos.
The YouTuber persisted and was told that a supervisor would be with him shortly. DeCastro used the time wandering through the lobby, claiming that Riverside police purposely unalived Villalobos and criticizing artwork in the lobby that embraced the themes of authoritarianism.
DeCastro was eventually greeted by an Lt. Eric Myers, who informed DeCastro that he could not comment further while there was an active investigation of the death. DeCastro said he did his own investigation which found that Riverside police were directly responsible for deliberately unaliving Villalobos.
The YouTuber, sweating profusely and working himself up into a fury, demanded that his fans hit the “like” button in support of Villalobos. The “unbiased journalist” then joined the protest, screaming and chanting on behalf of the family.
Standing on the steps of the police station, DeCastro unsuccessfully attempted to approach multiple police officers as they entered the building to question them about the status of the officers involved in the incident and if they were still on duty.
The YouTuber would go on to reminisce about the time he paid for a rally on behalf of the family of Caleb Slay, a Missouri man killed by an ATF agent in 2020. DeCastro humble bragged about paying over $1,000.00 for the cost of the protest, including printing up signs and paying for t-shirts.
DeCastro did not address accusations from Slay’s family that DeCastro acted inappropriately in the days leading up to the protest, including allegations that he essentially moved into Slay’s parents’ house, acted inappropriately around Slay’s underage sisters, and had to be asked to leave due to his alleged inappropriate behavior.
Moving past those memories, DeCastro openly attacked the statue outside of the police department titled, “Safe in His arms,” which, according to Tripadvisor user dnaleciz, “is dedicated to all Police Officers who cope with the day to day rigors of their profession, and honors those within the county of Riverside (1907 – present) who gave their lives in the service and protection of our community, The memorial displays the names of twenty-one Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputies, sixteen Riverside Police Officers, nine California Highway Patrol Officers, eight United States Border Patrol Agents, four Palm Springs Police Officers, two Cathedral City Police Officers, and one each from the Corona Police Department, California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, Union Pacific Railroad Police Department, and the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation-Norco. This exceptional piece of art was created as a testimony to the police with the hope that it would bring comfort, peace, and encouragement to all who need it.”
DeCastro dismissed the statute as another display of authoritarian police propaganda which furthered their spreading of “lies” that police where there to help the public in times of need.
Returning the lobby of the police station, DeCastro would rally against United States President Donald J. Trump. Despite Trump’s immense popularity among his own viewers, DeCastro returned to his themes of the horrors of the authoritarianism he was seeing in recent actions by the United States government.
The YouTuber would later reapproach the person working reception in the police station, telling her that she was called a “badge bunny” before attempting to engage with another worker over the Villalobos incident. Both workers rebuffed his advances.
Villalobos’ mother briefly appeared for an interview with DeCastro towards the end of the stream. She explained that her son was injured in an incident at a gym when he was 17 years old and suffered from mental illness as a result of his injuries.
According to his mother, Villalobos was having a mental episode on the morning of his death and left the house at around 2:30AM. The family initiated a search for him but were unable to find him before the 6:30AM incident at the McDonalds.
She also confirmed that the family’s independent autopsy revealed that there were no drugs in his system at the time of his death.
The two hour and ten minute vertically formatted livestream brought in $56.00 in super chat donations and was seen by 2,462 concurrent viewers at peak. It has been seen by over 311,500 people, had 1,276 likes and brought in 53 comments as of press time.
