Playlist
Jose “Chille” DeCastro’s now daily informercial drew criticism on Tuesday as the activist turned pitchman used the Illinois death of alleged drug dealer Lamar Bell in order to promote sales of his “Indestructible” trifold and “5A Cop Card.”
DeCastro used footage of Lamar Bell, who died after a traffic stop in Rockford, Illinois, on July 18, 2023. Bell was taken into custody after police observed evidence of cocaine in Bells car. and was handcuffed and placed into a police vehicle while his car was searched.
While in the police vehicle Bell began to have a reaction to the extraordinary amounts of cocaine in his system. He alerted police to his condition and an ambulance was called, with paramedics taking Bell to a local hospital, where he ultimately died from consumption of narcotics.
DeCastro appeared oblivious to the controversy of using a man’s death as part of his daily informercial, as he happily interacted with his chat and pitched his products while showing the graphic footage of Bell in distress. The YouTuber blamed police for Bell’s death, claiming that police should have forced Bell to ingest syrup of ipecac to induce vomiting.
Ipecac syrup is only available by prescription in the United States and abuse of the syrup for weight loss purposes was blamed for the death of popular singer Karen Carpenter in 1983. It is not widely used by police in the United States for roadside treatment of drug overdoses.
A review by an HRSA-funded scientific panel in 2005 concluded that the use of ipecac syrup was ineffective and did not reliably remove poisons from the stomach. The panel also concluded that the use of the syrup may delay or hinder the use of other treatments.
DeCastro continued to fundraise while showing police body cam and dash cam footage of Bell in distress. At multiple points during his live infomercial, DeCastro stated that Bell was a businessman who was involved in the distribution of a product that “the public wants” and advocated for the loosening of drug laws.
Even though Bell had ingested a fatal dose of cocaine, DeCastro insisted that Bell may have survived the traffic stop if only he had used his card and trifold to help handle the traffic stop. DeCastro continued to pitch his products and show footage of Bell in distress for a little under two hours of his four-hour live stream.
Bell’s death sparked accusations that he was abused in police custody before Bell’s autopsy results were released to the public. The results showed that Bell had swallowed at least 40 clear knotted bags of cocaine and had over 9,300 ng/ml of cocaine in his system at the time of death and no sign of physical trauma caused by his interaction with police.
Jose “Chille” DeCastro’s daily live stream is expected to return to YouTube later this afternoon.
Share this:
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
CERTAINLY, such a video can be reported to YouTube under SOMETHING within the guidelines! DeCastro has posted tons of ridiculous videos, but these types of streams go WAY over the line. Don’t understand why YouTube keeps allowing his trash….oh wait……that would be for $$$$$.