Officer Absolutely Smashes Belligerent Drunk in Controversial Arrest
The Shreveport Police Department in Louisiana started off 2019 with a confrontation and arrest on a downtown street corner.
Not all of the relevant facts were immediately made available, but a video of the interaction between a belligerent man and police officer has gone viral on social media and piqued plenty of interest in the matter.
The video commenced after a verbal altercation had already begun between a police officer and a man later identified as Joshua Lyon. Police told Lyon that he was interfering in an investigation — apparently, a nearby traffic stop — and repeatedly urged him to move along.
Lyon would not be moved, though, and continued to argue with that officer and several others who were standing nearby, becoming increasingly agitated and belligerent as time went on.
Eventually, Lyon crossed a line that resulted in his being slammed to the ground and tased as he was cuffed and placed under arrest, sparking cries of police brutality from some.
WARNING: The video below contains explicit language and violence that some viewers may find offensive.
“I think it’s hilarious that you guys are wasting all these resources pulling over somebody that ran a stop sign,” Lyon said. “Don’t you guys have better s— to do on New Year’s Eve, bro? This is ridiculous!”
“When you get through, keep walking,” the officer said.
“Through with what?” Lyon
Though Lyon was repeatedly instructed to “keep walking” away from the scene, he persisted, yelling directly into the officer’s face, “I’m gonna stand right here and talk however I want because this is f—ing America!”
The camera panned to the side for a moment as voices could be heard shouting “Whoa, whoa whoa,” and turned back in time to see Lyon and officer engaged in a physical scuffle as the officer pushed Lyon back, at which point the suspect pushed back and shouted, “Back up off of me, b—-!”
At that point, the officer grabbed Lyon by the shoulders with both hands and slung him to the ground while other officers swarmed in. The man behind the cellphone camera — who claimed to be Lyon’s brother — was pushed away from the scrum on the ground by another officer who calmly repeated, “Back up.”
Lyon screamed and cursed as he struggled with the officers and was hit with the taser for his troubles. He was eventually cuffed, lifted off the ground and taken into custody.
The officers did not answer questions as to why Lyon had been arrested, and the man with the camera was warned that he could be arrested as well for public intoxication due to the smell of alcohol on his breath as he watched Lyon be marched away toward the police cars for transport to jail. The man videoing admitted to having had “a drink.”
KTBS reported that, at least while the investigation remains ongoing, the Shreveport Police Department is standing by the actions of the officer, denying that the officer used excessive force.
“If you believe an officer has done something wrong we have a procedure in place and we look at every one of those, but give us the benefit of the doubt,” Substitute Police Chief Ben Raymond told KTBS. “Allow the investigative process to work, and I can assure you, whatever the results of that investigation are we will take the appropriate action.”
Though Lyon declined to be interview on camera by KTBS, he did provide a statement: “Something people seem to be missing is that I was never warned that if I stayed I would be arrested. I was never told I was being detained. We had left the area adjacent to the traffic stop as asked and were followed. As I was tossed and battered, I had no idea what was happening. I was never told I was under arrest or what I was being arrested for until I was already in custody. I was never read my rights.”
Lyon was booked into jail at midnight on New Year’s Eve and faces charges of interfering in a police investigation, public drunkenness and resisting an officer.
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