Body camera footage shows an Oklahoma City police officer aggressively dragging down and handcuffing a 71-year-old motorist following a last month traffic encounter.
Police said about the Oct. 27 stop that the driver was hospitalized with major injuries and the officer was put on administrative leave.
Police have not officially named the officer shown in body camera footage stopping a motorist for an unlawful U-turn following a minor accident.
“There was a use of force, and an elderly man sustained serious injuries that required hospitalization,” police said in a statement. “An investigation was immediately initiated, and the officer was placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
Soon the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office will be provided the occurrence since officers are committed to openness and responsibility, the statement stated.
Tuesday, a spokesman from Oklahoma City police turned down further comments.
President of the Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma Thuan Nguyen noted Tuesday’s driver was Lich Vu, 71, who is in the hospital with a skull fracture.
For comments Tuesday, Vu’s relatives could not be located.
The body camera footage shows an officer informing the motorist, door open, that he is writing a ticket for an incorrect U-turn.
The driver remarks, “I didn’t U-turn.”
The video shows the officer asking the man to sign the citation; she explains it is not an admission of guilt but rather a contract he will handle later.
The motorist adds, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” adding that another driver struck his car.
“Me? Citation? She hit me and I got the citation?” he tells the officer.
The officer informs the then they are done bickering as he gets out of the car.
“We don’t argue on the side of the road,” the officer continues, noting that the driver will go to jail should he refuse to sign the citation.
The motorist answers, “I’m ready to go to jail.”
Presumably annoyed, the officer remarks on the driver’s statement, “ridiculous.”
The officer then momentarily speaks with a woman who received a ticket but was advised she was free to leave.
The footage shows the officer requesting another unit then.
The second woman shown on the video claims the officer the driver is her husband and they did not reverse course.
The man and the officer keep fighting, and the motorist raises an index finger up to his mouth as if asking the officer to stop.
The officer then grabs the man’s hand, leads it behind his back, and brings him to the ground. On his stomach using both hands behind his back, the officer shackles the man. The cop declaring he will be calling an ambulance closes the video.
According to Nguyen, the episode is obviously an overuse of force and the cop need to be let go.
“We don’t want our police department nor our [district attorney] to take it lightly. We want justice to be served,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said the police officer seemed agitated when Vu made the be-quiet finger movement.
Nguyen claimed to have discussed how police chiefs handling Vietnamese community members.
“We are always the last to be heard,” he said. “So no matter whether we’re the person that is at fault or not at fault, our statements are always last. … And so in certain cases, that indicates implicit bias.”
The episode has also sparked discussions among his own group about how they should interact with authorities to prevent circumstances that could aggravate things.