Incompetent police officers mistook an innocent man for a suspect last week, which left that man in the hospital.
As Arthur Velazquez was riding his bike down the street, police claimed that he ‘fit the description’ because he was wearing a hoodie and on a bike, so they stopped him.
While he was detained, he simply pulled out his phone and called his sister out of concern that something bad was about to happen.
“I’m thinking about my own safety,” Velazquez said. “I had a feeling that with these two officers something bad was going to happen; that’s why I called my sister.”
Unfortunately, his feeling of something bad happening came true when officers attacked him for making this call.
Police claim that they feared for their lives when Velazquez told them that he was calling his sister, so they had no other choice but the escalate the situation to violence and beat an innocent man.
“You have additional people coming to the scene, and you are in fear,” Detective Steve Berry, with the Mesa Police Department said in regards to this innocent man using the phone. “Who might be armed, and showing up to assist.”
Since these officers ‘feared’ a phone call, they proceeded to assault Velazquez. The incident was captured on the officer’s body cam.
At the beginning of the video, one officer can be seen attempting to pull the phone from Valazquez’s hand, but Velazquez tries to explain to his sister where he is just before being tackled to the ground.
After officers had slammed him on the ground, they began punching him the face for failing to prostrate himself before the badge fast enough. After realizing that they had just beaten an innocent man for no reason, police frantically searched for something to charge him with. They then issued Velazquez a ticket for not having the proper lighting on his bicycle.
“Taking five minutes and complying and calling your sister when you got done, would have gone a long way,” Berry said. “He could have moved on for the evening.”
But can we really come to the conclusion that Velazquez would have ‘moved on for the evening’ if he would not have called his sister?
A more likely scenario would have been that his sister never showed up because he stopped calling her, and Velasquez was still beaten. He would likely be facing charges of resisting arrest as well and have no chance of a lawsuit since his sister would not have shown up to take pictures.
In police state America, you can be pulled over and beaten by public servants, innocent, left with a concussion and stitches, and this is called ‘justice.’
Link: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/watch-arizona-cops-assault-unarmed-man-for-pulling-out-his-phone-during-profiling-stop/#.Vj-Oh5R6GL4.facebook
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