{"id":314776,"date":"2026-05-14T03:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314776\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T03:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:28:20","slug":"nathan-garcia-kyle-smith-albert-arzolas-killer-his-partner-should-be-off-anaheims-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314776\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Garcia & Kyle Smith: Albert Arzola\u2019s killer (& his partner) should be off Anaheim\u2019s streets!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First, to clarify that title: I\u2019m told Kyle Smith was NOT Officer Nathan Garcia\u2018s partner on the night of December 6 when Garcia shot and killed Albert Arzola. We\u2019ll call Garcia\u2019s partner THAT night \u201cOfficer X\u201d for now. Officer X was driving the unmarked vehicle and followed the hot-headed Garcia onto the Arzolas\u2019 front yard. Officer X allegedly did not turn on his bodycam, which is why we have nothing but Garcia\u2019s jumbled and silent footage to see (along with some blurry video from across the street.) Still, Kyle Smith HAD been Garcia\u2019s partner in a different critical incident two years ago, and we remember Kyle well on Anna Drive \u2013 we\u2019ll get to that later. <\/p>\n

But finally, after five months of bugging, we do know the identity of 19-year old Arzola\u2019s killer \u2013 Officer Nathan Garcia. So now at least we can fill in THAT blank: <\/p>\n

As Officers X and Nathan Garcia drove an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows down South Philadelphia street on the night of Dec. 6, 2025, they saw a young man tagging graffiti on a wall; at the same time, maybe 30 feet away, Albert was walking home from work, and for some reason the cops followed Albert home. <\/p>\n

As Albert reached his front porch Garcia jumped out of the car and ran up to the porch with his gun pointed. <\/p>\n

For some unknown reason, Garcia quickly shot Albert 2 or 3 times, fatally, within seconds of exiting the vehicle \u2013 the sound recording still hadn\u2019t clicked on on Garcia\u2019s bodycam. <\/p>\n

Witnesses say that Garcia had tumbled down the porch steps backwards just before firing, which is sure how that chaotic footage looks. <\/p>\n

(Also, a gun was \u201cfound near Albert\u2019s body\u201d after they dragged him to the lawn, but nobody claims he was holding or brandishing it.) <\/p>\n

We still don\u2019t know: <\/p>\n

The identity of the driver, Officer X, who allegedly never turned on his bodycam; <\/p>\n

The identity of the officer who shot Albert\u2019s cousin Emmanuel Cordova in the head with a rubber bullet ten minutes later; <\/p>\n

Who was responsible for the abuse of the small children, \u201cdetained\u201d for hours on the sidewalk as \u201cpart of the investigation\u201d and forced to urinate in public; <\/p>\n

and the family and public have still not seen Albert\u2019s autopsy. <\/p>\n

I do have something else to add to Gabriel San Roman\u2019s LA Times article<\/a> though, on the topic of: <\/p>\n

Why did it take five months to release Nathan Garcia\u2019s name?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Five months is way longer than it ever takes (these days) to learn the name of an Anaheim cop who\u2019s been \u201cinvolved in an officer-involved shooting.\u201d The family and public have been trying to at least get the shooter\u2019s name since last December. The excuse offered by APD and the City was that the officer was in danger and had received \u201cthreats\u201d \u2013 something hard to believe. None of us knew anyone who would have \u201cthreatened\u201d this cop, and an earlier Times story from February<\/a> cast doubt on this unnamed \u201cthreat\u201d pretext, quoting attorney Kelly Aviles: <\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be a specific threat\u2026 The Anaheim Police Department has to be able to justify why they can\u2019t publicly disclose an officer\u2019s name. They have the burden to demonstrate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then finally, in the late hours of April 21 (as announced at Council that evening) Garcia\u2019s name was suddenly e-mailed to the Arzolas\u2019 attorney. With no explanation for the delay or the Had the \u201cthreat\u201d been neutralized somehow? <\/p>\n

Well, check it out: We learned from Gabriel\u2019s May 4 story that a lawsuit naming Garcia and his partner Kyle Smith for using EXCESSIVE FORCE against a 14-year old, in a separate 2024 incident, had just been settled. Look that lawsuit up<\/a>: IT WAS SETTLED ON APRIL 22. Do you still think that vague, unnamed \u201cthreats\u201d against Garcia were the reason for the five-month delay? <\/p>\n

OCCAM\u2019S RAZOR<\/a> SAYS: Garcia\u2019s name wasn\u2019t released till the moment that excessive force case was settled, so that the unnamed 14-year old\u2019s family wouldn\u2019t know that Nathan Garcia had gone on to kill a 19-year old, which might have been something helpful to consider in their case. You think?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle and Nathan\u2019s 2024 Excessive Force Incident<\/p>\n

Gabriel goes into detai<\/a>l describing the allegations of this June 2024 excessive force incident, against a 14-year old Latino with no prior arrests riding his bike \u2013 just the kind of so-called innocent teenager that really pisses off Kyle and Nathan! According to the suit (which was quietly settled) the teen tried to put his hands up but Officers Kyle and Nathan threw him off his bike to the asphalt, took turns pressing their knees into his back, and fractured his shoulder; Officer Kyle punched him in the genitals while Officer Nathan did nothing to stop him, while all the while the boy cried \u201cI am not resisting!\u201d <\/p>\n

Then, not wanting to bring the boy directly to the hospital, they released him to his mother, who took him to the hospital anyway for his injuries. To justify their violence, they fabricated some phony charge of the kid \u201cillegally operating a pocket bike.\u201d But the city ended up settling the suit, for we-don\u2019t-yet-know-how-much of our taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

Hey, we don\u2019t know this Nathan Garcia, but we DO know Kyle Smith on Anna Drive, and this sounds like him!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For several months not long ago \u2013 maybe 2024-5 \u2013 the Anna Drive neighborhood was harassed regularly by APD, for no apparent reason. A few times a week, many many times, generally between 7-10 pm, cops would barge into our courtyard while our young teenage boys were sitting around talking and looking at their phones, start questioning them, accusing them of things, sometimes insulting them, sometimes with guns in hand. The kids didn\u2019t deserve it, it stressed out the whole neighborhood, it added to distrust and hostility to the cops, who also probably had better things they coulda been doing elsewhere. Eventually this stopped after we all complained too many times \u2013 complained WITH VIDEOS! <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rudest cop, who just always seemed to be looking to start trouble, was Kyle Smith. With his sad-sack visage and his Wilford Brimley moustache. So it\u2019s not surprising to learn of his excessive force on a 14-year old elsewhere around that time.<\/p>\n

We remember the time he was harassing a 13-year old (almost 14) who was just sitting on the font lawn around 7pm waiting for his friend to come out. A young mother heard Kyle through her window, questioning and insulting the kid, at one point accusing him of sitting on the lawn \u201cbecause he didn\u2019t have a dad.\u201d (A false statement but cruel and racist nonetheless.) <\/p>\n

At that point Kyle didn\u2019t have his bodycam on (which they\u2019re supposed to when they interact with the public) but then he left and came back with it on. This time he wanted to search the boy for a gun, claiming (ridiculously) that he resembled a suspect who\u2019d robbed a liquor store. He also tried \u201cIs that your bike over there? I\u2019m gonna give you a ticket for not having a light on it!\u201d (Wasn\u2019t even his bike and he wasn\u2019t riding it.) <\/p>\n

The mother, overhearing all this, came out to keep an eye on things, as one does on Anna Drive. Kyle told her to mind her own business. She asked, \u201cDid you call this boy\u2019s parents?\u201d \u201cNo, I don\u2019t need to, he looks SUSPICIOUS.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m going to stand here and watch.\u201d <\/p>\n

More witnesses started to come out, some of them filming \u2013 it\u2019s Anna Drive after all, and Kyle started getting really uptight. He threatened to detain the mother for obstruction, although she was a good ten feet away. He tried to grab her hand. \u201cI TOLD you to go back inside! WHY DO YOU WANT TO DEFEND SOMEBODY WHO HAS NO FUTURE?\u201d <\/p>\n

Kyle\u2019s rage shifted to the mother, he grabbed her from behind, choked her, knocked her down, cuffed her, and then called for backup. When the other cops showed up he told them that she had hit him; no doubt she was struggling as one does when one hasn\u2019t had \u201cnonviolent resistance training\u201d and aren\u2019t being legit arrested for anything.<\/p>\n

The mother spent the night in jail till 3 or 4 in the morning, but at least she\u2019d gotten Kyle\u2019s wrath off the kid. Justice was not served. The bodycam footage did NOT show the mother hitting Kyle, but still she had to pay a lawyer, take anger management classes, and pay a $100 court fee, a cop\u2019s word being unimpeachable. <\/p>\n

Not long after all that, while the neighborhood was still mad about it, Kyle and a partner Noe Garcia followed another young man home, just coming home from work at night (like Albert Arzola was!) And THIS young man, knowing his rights, began filming and so we have this:<\/p>\n

\n

Okay, before there is any confusion here (like our confusion at first) Kyle\u2019s partner here is NOE Garcia, NOT Kyle\u2019s later partner NATHAN Garcia, the killer of Albert Arzola. Also not to be confused Officer with David Garcia who killed Marcel Ceja in 2011. Too many Officer Garcias! Noe hasn\u2019t killed anyone that we know of and we hope it stays that way. <\/p>\n

But listen to Kyle. \u201cYou\u2019re wearing the wrong hat.\u201d (What?? You can wear whatever hat you want here.) \u201cDo you know what neighborhood this is? You\u2019re gonna get yourself shot. Are you suicidal?\u201d (They love to say that.) The young man brings up the recent incident with the kid, and Kyle makes up lies about him. Kyle repeats to someone else, \u201cThis guy is wearing the wrong hat, he\u2019s gonna get shot.\u201d To which the young man replies \u201cI got more of a chance of getting shot by you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may be this video that finally got Kyle removed from our neighborhood. But we regret that he went on to find a WORSE Garcia to partner with, and beat up another innocent 14-year old. And lie about him, and cost us taxpayers money. Kyle Smith and Nathan Garcia, the killer of Albert Arzola, are still patrolling the streets of Anaheim, paid by us taxpayers, and they should NOT be.<\/p>\n

Previous stories on the Arzola Killing:<\/p>\n

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