Citizen Report No. 1632938371 - 362185512

A group of protesters begins walking away from an officer who yells “go now” before grabbing one of the women and saying she is under arrest. The officers begin arresting people and in the process fall over those already on the ground.

On June 1, 2020, the sheriff’s office tweeted that it was “aware of concerns regarding the level of force used by a deputy involved in a curfew related arrest.” On June 15, 2020, Sheriff Terry T. Wagner said the use of force in the video was “lawful and followed our policy.” He also shared two aerial videos of the incident. While the sheriff had initially expressed concerns about the video, after releasing the additional footage he said he was ashamed of that reaction. “Shame on me, and shame on all of the people who watched the video, passed judgment on what they thought they saw, prompting emails and calls demanding the deputy be fired for his actions.” The videos he shared still show a woman being grabbed although she is not arrested. The sheriff said the original video shared online did not show “the ‘F--- You’ response from the protesters to the deputy, which does not indicate he was going to gain voluntary compliance.” Capt. Ben Houchin is the officer seen yelling “Go” on the video, a heavily redacted report provided to ProPublica in response to a records request confirmed. Houchin did not respond to a request for comment. “Effecting an arrest for someone resisting or trying to evade arrest is not pretty. Quick, decisive action during the arrest process is necessary to prevent injury to the arrestee and the officers. This isn’t like a game of tag, where the person tagged is told they are out and walks over to a patrol vehicle to be transported to jail,” Wagner wrote.