SA man posts video on social media of him beating, tying up man, police say

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police have arrested a 19-year-old man accused of sharing a video on social media of him beating another man whose hands were tied behind his back with zip ties.

San Antonio police spokesman Carlos Ortiz said a good Samaritan saw a video showing the beating on social media and called 911 around 7:18 a.m. The unidentified individual told police they recognized Cerna and the victim in the video.

After conducting an investigation, police were able to later find Cerna at a South Side home, located in the 400 block of Whitman Avenue.

"The video that we saw basically had a victim that was tied up and being beaten by (Cerna)," Ortiz said. He said at this time, police are unsure if any weapons were used in the beating.

Ortiz said the 21-year-old victim was transported to a local hospital where he is being treated for injuries from the assault. He is in stable condition.

According to a police report, Cerna kidnapped the victim from his home Sunday and brought him to his residence, where investigators said the victim was beaten and held against his will. 

During a perp walk, Cerna claimed his innocence to cameras, saying he tied the victim up because he caught him stealing from his home.

"He stole from me, he stole from me. He tried choking me, he tried killing me. I had to bend him over, I got the rock and hit him in the back of the head," Cerna said.

Cerna said the victim apologized to him and then he went to bed. He claimed while he was sleeping, the victim tried to steal his cellphone and money from his pockets.

Ortiz said thankfully, police were notified by the good Samaritan or the incident could have been much worse.     

"We are not able to be everywhere that we'd like to be and for a good Samaritan on social media to alert us to something that they saw disturbing and to help us in identifying both the victim and the suspect, actually was the link on how we were able to locate the address," Ortiz said.

Cerna is now facing a charge of aggravated kidnapping, which is a first-degree felony.