Philadelphia police probing violent arrest caught on video

Carroll, who was on probation on a 2014 drugs charge at the time of the arrest, was charged with drugs possession, assault, reckless endangerment, and resisting arrest. Police say he had less than a quarter of an ounce of crack on him. He said he thought of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who died after an NYPD officer held him in a chokehold, and reflexively bit the officer to relieve his air passages.

The situation escalates as other officers arrive on the scene. McNesby says they would have been justified using a Taser, but there is no evidence that it was used.

An officer can be heard saying, “Tase that motherf***er!”

Carroll admitted biting one of the officers, but that was because he has asthma and he was having trouble breathing, Cannick reported. The organization did not immediately return request for comment by The Huffington Post.

Carroll’s family, present for his preliminary hearing last month, told Cannick that one officer allegedly testified that he stopped Carroll after seeing him speak with two men during a suspected drug deal. Once Carroll was in custody, he “intentionally [struck] his own head against the protective shield located in the police vehicle” and was treated for his injury at an area hospital, according to the statement. Philadelphia police say in the statement “there is no evidence a Taser was used, but an active investigation is underway”.

Los Angeles-based social commentator Jasmyne Cannick, who posted the video, said the Carroll family gave her the cellphone footage of the arrest.

In a phone interview with HuffPost on Thursday, Cannick said that the cops’ demeaning of Carroll denotes a profound lack of respect. “They lied”, Nancy said. “It doesn’t warrant that response”.

In the beginning of the five-minute-long video, three officers can be seen wrestling and punching Carroll while he is on the ground. Due to the close angle and poor lighting of the video, that information is hard to verify.

At least one officer apparently points a Taser at Carroll, but it’s unclear from the grainy footage if he shocks him with it.

“A new video out of Philadelphia shows a young Black man being severely beaten and tased by Philadelphia officers in what can only remind you of Rodney King.”

More cops pull up and continue the beating as a citizen records unknowing to the police officers.

According to Cannick’s website, the video was just made available, even though the arrest happened on April 3 around 7:30 p.m. “He wasn’t doing anything”, Nancy said. The family received the video only recently, Cannick said.

Police said use of force reports were completed at the time of the incident.