(CNN) – A Florida police department began an internal investigation after an video on social media showing a Sarasota police officer kneeling on a man’s neck during an arrest.
In the nearly 90-second video recorded on a cell phone, taken by a viewer during the May 18 incident, three police officers can be seen trying to arrest an individual. Then one of the two officers is seen kneeling over the man’s head and neck.
The man, who was arrested on domestic violence / assault charges, is heard screaming “why are you arresting me?” As the police officer kneels over him.
“While screaming and asking why I was being detained, he started putting his knee around my neck,” Patrick Carroll said in an interview with CNN affiliate WFTS.
The video came out when they are being produced protests across the country seeking justice and reform in the wake of the death of George Floyd, which an independent autopsy attributed to the fact that the policemen knelt over him during his arrest. A video shows a policeman with a knee to Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes.
In the Florida police incident report, obtained by CNN, one of the police officers involved says that after handcuffing Carroll, the “defendant tried to get away from the officers and refused to enter the rear of the patrol. Minor force was used to escort the individual to the ground and hold him long enough for him to calm down. ”
The Sarasota Police Department said in a statement released Tuesday that they did not find out about the video until Monday, when the department was tagged in a social media post showing part of the arrest. After reviewing several videos, Chief Bernadette DiPino immediately launched a formal internal affairs investigation, the department said.
The police officer, who had not been identified, was placed on administrative leave.
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The department did not address whether the other two officers at the scene, and shown in the video, would face any disciplinary action.
He also posted an unedited video taken from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office helicopter the day of the arrest. The 13-minute video offers a panoramic view of the officers who responded to the scene and detained the man.
Video of the arrest was recorded with a cell phone camera.
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Chief DiPino was upset to see a police officer kneeling over the head and neck of an individual in the video. While the officer appears to be finally moving his leg toward the individual’s back, this tactic is not taught, used, or defended by our agency, ”says a statement from the police department.
Carroll, who is black, did not seek medical attention or formally complain about his injuries during the May 18 incident, according to police.
Police also stated in the incident report that Carroll was resisting arrest.
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However, during the interview with CNN affiliate WFTS, Carroll says he was not resisting. He says he was trying to move so he could have “circulation in his body and throat.”
CNN has reached out to the International Union of Police Associations for comment.
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