Detroit police launch internal investigation of video of man struggling with officers

Detroit — Detroit police officials are investigating a video that was posted online Monday showing officers trying to handcuff a man who grappled with the cops while he and his neighbors insisted he hadn't done anything wrong.

The six-minute video that was posted on Facebook Live at about 5:30 p.m. Monday starts by showing two officers from the 9th Precinct struggling to restrain a man on a porch at State Fair near Gratiot on Detroit's east side. As the three men wrestle, voices are heard off-camera, saying "Let him go," and "He was getting into his own car."

Detroit police Chief James White said Monday the officers were patrolling the area when they spotted the man trying to break into a car using a "tool fashioned to open locked vehicles."

"One officer asked the subject for his name, and the subject refused to provide it," White said in a statement. "For reasons that are not entirely clear, it appears that other individuals at the location were encouraging the subject not to provide his name. The officer then informed the subject that he was being detained. The subject then became extremely irate and there came a point when he appears to direct another individual to let a pit bull loose against the officers."

White added: "At this time, the body-worn camera has corroborated the statements of the officers."

The video posted on Facebook picks up the incident with police officers on a porch wrestling with the man. An officer produces handcuffs, and the citizen grabs them with his right hand while saying something to the officer. The struggle escalates, and a man who was standing in the home's doorway shoves an officer from behind. The off-camera voices get louder, as neighbors hurl profanities and threaten to attack the officers.

"We should beat their a--," one man yells off-camera.

As the citizen struggles with the two cops, he is seen on the video clutching briefly at an officer's throat with his left hand. Another man runs up behind the second officer and tries to pull him away before a siren sounds, and the man turns and runs down the porch stairs, seconds before a marked DPD SUV arrives as backup.

The video shows two more officers rush onto the porch. As the citizen continues struggling with the cops, another man appears in the doorway of the house, leans down and touches one of the officers, only to be pulled away by two other officers.

One of the officers draws his pistol, pointing it downward as he stands at the porch entrance in an apparent attempt to keep the crowd at bay, while neighbors continue to hurl profanities, including "you dumb mother------s, that was his own car."

As the citizen was being led away in handcuffs, an officer appears on camera warning neighbors to step back, to which one man screams, "Or what? Or what? Or what? I can stand in the street. I pay my taxes."

The video continues as residents explain to a group of officers that the man had been trying to get into his own car, and, they claimed, officers put the man in a chokehold for no reason.

Attempts Tuesday to reach the man who posted the video or others who witnessed the incident were not successful.

Police said the car belonged to the man police had attempted to question.

White said the department's Professional Standards Bureau is looking into the incident.

"The investigation into the officers actions remains ongoing," the chief said. "Supervisory members of the department will be required to analyze every action of the involved members, including the initial encounter and the tactics used by the officers during the incident. We will keep the community informed on this matter."

ghunter@detroitnews.com

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