Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton said he is investigating the incident recorded in a video posted on social media that appears to show Columbus police officers slamming a civilian to the ground during an arrest, and has promised to release body camera footage of the incident later today.
The video appears to show three officers attempting to subdue a struggling man.
During the struggle, one of the officers lifts the man off the ground and he and another officer appear to slam the man hard against the street. The video, which was taken by a witness’ cell phone, is too far away to hear anything the officers or the man are saying.
The video circulating social media was posted to a private page called “Columbus MS (What’s going on).”
Shelton said the officers were responding to an indecent exposure call on Seventh Avenue North, near the intersection of 23rd Street, just after 10:30 a.m. when the incident occurred. He confirmed there has been a police report filed on the incident and that all three officers involved were wearing body cameras and had them turned on.
“We have it from three different angles,” Shelton said. “I want to establish that up front, first of all, … all officers on the scene had their body camera on.”
The video on Facebook was the main topic of discussion at a Wednesday meeting of the CPD Overview Committee, a committee made up of one civilian from each ward who meet with CPD officials as-needed to discuss police business.
Committee Chair Steven James said he has received multiple calls from local residents with concerns about the video. He said he was disturbed because he’s heard — though he specified he doesn’t know for sure — the man arrested is “mentally challenged.”
“When I first saw the video, I was disturbed by it because I felt like it was excessive,” James said. “Three officers and one individual, even though he was resisting arrest. He didn’t want to be obtained, which most people don’t want to be obtained, especially if the individual is mentally challenged. … I believe it’s gone viral because it don’t look good. At all.”
Shelton previously told The Dispatch he does not know whether the individual involved has a mental illness.
He told the committee authorities would release the body camera footage, likely later today. The reason for the delay is the individual was not fully dressed during the incident and city Public Relations Officer Joe Dillon is blurring nudity out of the video.
Shelton confirmed the individual went to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle’s Emergency Room, per the policy of the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, which will not admit patients who say they need medical attention. At the ER, the man was treated and released, and has been charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.
Shelton also has spoken with the three officers involved and command staff. The city council will also meet today to discuss the three officers’ conduct, as well as other city personnel issues.
“We can look at some different ways of taking people down,” Shelton said at Wednesday’s meeting. “There may be times when we have to put people on the ground to arrest them.”
He said CPD would release the body camera footage to give the public a “fair” view of what all happened during the incident.
“When police officers are arresting people, we’ve got to use force, to a certain degree,” he said. “We have to use force, and it doesn’t always look good.”
James and committee member Lavonne Latham Harris, who also heads the Lowndes County chapter of the NAACP, said they were glad to hear there is police body camera footage of the incident. They also said they feel CPD is overall doing a good job working with civilians in the community — particularly, James said, in light of the fact that the committee was formed in response to the October 2015 shooting of Ricky Ball, a Black man who was killed by a white former Columbus police officer while running from a traffic stop. The officer, Canyon Boykin, was initially charged with manslaughter, but Attorney General Lynn Fitch dropped the charges against him last year.
“The job of this committee is to be a buffer between the police department and the community,” James said. “When it was established, it was clear that we weren’t going to take the side of the police department or the side of the community. We were going to be fair down the line. The community is expecting this overview committee to speak on their behalf.”
He said the committee has received a number of complaints from civilians about CPD that “didn’t hold water.” He said he feels this case, however, was excessive.
“Let’s just be honest,” James said. “I wouldn’t want to be subdued like that. I don’t think anyone here would want to be subdued like that. I wouldn’t want that to be one of my sons. … I think that was a bit excessive. When you’ve got three officers and one individual, surely.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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