Police in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are investigating videos that appear to show officers dragging people out of an apartment and using a stun gun during an arrest early on Sunday.
In a statement on the Tuscaloosa Police Department Facebook page, police said officers had been responding to a loud music complaint made on Sunday at 3:20 a.m.
Cell phones videos of the incident, shot from three different angles, were provided to BuzzFeed News by a University of Alabama student.
The videos appeared to show several Tuscaloosa police officers dragging three people out of an apartment and tasing at least one of them after a confrontation at the apartment. One of the officers is also seen hitting the man with what appears to be a baton or a flashlight.
A police spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that three people were arrested but did not specify the charges against them. She said an update on the incident would be made on Monday afternoon.
Neither the University of Alabama nor the police would say if the people in the video, including the three people arrested, were students, but the university's student newspaper, The Crimson White, identified one man who was arrested and tased as a student.
The City of Tuscaloosa said it had forwarded the videos to internal affairs investigators.
"A full investigation of the circumstances that are depicted in these videos will be conducted and all appropriate measures taken to ensure the integrity of the Tuscaloosa Police Department in serving the citizens of Tuscaloosa," the police department's Facebook statement read.
In one video, an officer is heard arguing with the group of people inside the apartment about one of the men touching the officer's arm.
"I'm going to tell you one more time, get out of this apartment right now," an officer can be heard in one of the videos telling a person identified as a student by the campus newspaper.
When the student refuses to come out, the rest of the group is heard telling the officer, "He did not touch your arm, we have it on video."
The argument continues with members of the group telling the officer he can't remove the student from his own apartment. "He is a good boy. Don't you touch him," a woman can be heard saying.
"He is under arrest," the officer can be heard saying.
When people repeatedly ask the officer what the student is being arrested for, the officer does not respond but asks the man to get out of the apartment multiple times.
At one point, the group attempts to shut the door. The officer then grabs the student while shouting, "Get the fuck out of the apartment."
Several officers are then seen dragging the man out. Other officers run into the apartment, drag two other people out, and pin them on the floor, including one woman who appears to have been filming the incident and who is heard screaming, "I haven't done anything!"
A third video appears to show an officer using a stun gun on the man who is dragged out.
A person is heard yelling, "Holy shit, he's tasing him."
The incident took place at an apartment complex near Buffalo Phil's, a popular hangout for University of Alabama students, The Crimson White, reported.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1NnbTFG
No comments:
Post a Comment