After Levi Frasier filmed a Denver police officer throw six powerful punches into the face of a suspected drug dealer, officers threatened Frasier with arrest unless he gave them the video, he tells RT.
The video is remarkable for its sheer level of brutality: Three
police officers are seen holding down unarmed suspected drug
dealer David Flores in a parking lot. After Flores ignores a
command by police officer Charles Jones to release a sock from
his mouth that he suspects contains narcotics, Jones delivers six
consecutive punches to his face.
When Flores’s pregnant wife attempts to intervene, Jones trips
her up and she falls, landing on her stomach.
Flores ended up in the hospital, while Denver police originally
said the display of force by the officer was reasonable under the
circumstances.
Just one week after airing of the videotape, the Denver Police Department awarded Jones a promotion.
However, an internal investigation is now looking at additional video footage retrieved from a municipal HALO (High-Activity Location Observation) camera that caught the incident, Fox31 Denver reported.
#AskACop why have the @DenverPolice resorted to snatch and grab arrests on protesters who are peacefully dispersing?
— Black Lives Matter (@grimalkinrn) December 17, 2014
Frazier has offered his version of events to RT.
After he returned to his vehicle, Frazier said an officer approached him, demanding he hand over the video, saying they needed it for the “lab technicians.”
The police officer then told him, “We can this the easy way,
or... we can do this the hard way,” pointing at the squad
car, Frazier told RT.
Frasier says the police took the device without a warrant and
when they returned it he could not locate the video clip. He
later restored it from the cloud, however.
Since the incident, the police have publicly released Frazier's
criminal record, telling Fox31 Denver he is a “liar.”
“The arresting officers only have the power to incarcerate us
until our time has come to stand in front of the court
system,” he said.
I don’t think that anyone has the power to play judge, jury
and executioner at the same time. To me, this was completely
overboard and an excessive use of force.”