Photo: Police bodycam footage showed officers dragging the man from his car/DAYTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
Police officers in the US state of Ohio have come under pressure and criticism following the release of a video showing a paraplegic black man being dragged from his vehicle. The individual has no use of his legs.
The man, 39-year-old Clifford Owensby, can be heard shouting 'I'm paraplegic' as the officers pull him from the vehicle.
Officers had stopped him in Dayton, Ohio, and claimed they wished to search the car for drugs. The man was then manhandled and dragged along the ground. The officers claim they witnessed Mr Owensby entering and then leaving a home believed to be involved in the sale of narcotics. No drugs were found in Owensby's car but $22,450 (£16,500) in cash was retrieved.
The video shows officers approaching the car at which point Owensby asks for a 'white shirt', a term for a superior officer. The officer replies:
"Here's the thing, I'm going to pull you out and then I'll call a white shirt… You can co-operate and get out of the car or I'll drag you out of the car. Do you see your two options here?"
A representative of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, released a statement saying:
"To pull this man out of the car, by his hair - a paraplegic - is totally unacceptable, inhumane and sets a bad light on our great city of Dayton, Ohio."
Any wrongdoing by officers was dismissed by the police force in question. Jerome Dix, president of Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 44, said:
"Sometimes the arrest of noncompliant individuals is not pretty, but is a necessary part of law enforcement to maintain public safety."
In 2020 the US was rocked by the worst civil disorder it has experienced since at least the 1960s following the high-profile killing of George Floyd by a police officer. The event sparked widespread anger at racism and police brutality, with riots lasting months. One police officer has already been found guilty of killing Floyd with other officers set to go on trial shortly.
[h/t: BBC]
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