The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday released body camera video showing an officer punching a handcuffed man during a double-parking confrontation in Watts on Sunday, just as another controversial use-of-force incident emerged.
The video was released as authorities dealt with another incident that occurred hours later Sunday in South Los Angeles, in which a Los Angeles Police Department officer was caught on video using an apparent chokehold while attempting to restrain a 17-year-old boy during an arrest. Both incidents are under investigation.
In Watts' case, video of the incident was originally captured on a cellphone by a bystander. Brad Gage, an attorney for Alexander Donta Mitchell, 28, the man who says he was hit, said the officer's actions left his client with a broken nose and a sore jaw.
The 56-minute police body camera video shows two officers approaching Mitchell's silver Dodge Charger, which is double-parked and facing the wrong way near the corner of 113th Street and Graham Avenue.
One officer uses a flashlight to look inside the tinted windows on the driver's side of the vehicle. A second officer stands by the passenger-side front door.
Mitchell is later seen rolling down his windows and asking the officer next to him what the problem is. The officer tells him he is double-parked and facing the wrong way before opening the driver's door.
Mitchell then tells the officer that he is not on parole or probation and begins to ask why the officer opened his door.
“Because you're ignoring me,” the officer says.
“I didn't ignore you,” Mitchell says.
The officer then asks Mitchell to exit the vehicle, which he does, but the situation turns hostile when the officer says he needs to pat Mitchell down.
“But why?” Mitchell asks the officer over and over again.
“For weapons,” the officer tells him.
“I have nothing with me.”
At that point, the two officers grab Mitchell's arm and place it behind his back while attempting to handcuff him.
“Get your hands off me,” he tells them. “I have nothing, I can sit in the car. I’m not on parole or probation… I know my rights.”
Nearly five minutes into the video, officers repeatedly tell Mitchell to put his arms behind his back. Officers also order the crowd that has gathered to move aside. At that point, the crowd can be heard reacting to an officer’s punch, and at least one bystander says she received one in the video.
The video also captures moments of Mitchell telling officers he was having trouble breathing before Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived on the scene.
Gage said the body camera video “further demonstrates why the police officer
“There was no justification for handcuffing or beating Alex,” he said, adding that his client was simply talking on the phone while sitting inside his car.
“There’s no reason to pull someone over for double parking,” Gage said. “The officer opened the door for no reason. The whole thing could have been avoided if he had been asked to move his car.”
Gage said the video does not show any other “hits that are not shown.”
Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of obstruction and resisting arrest and was later released on a misdemeanor citation.
Ed Obayashi, a law enforcement expert, attorney and Inyo County law enforcement officer, said after watching the video that the incident could have easily been avoided, given that Mitchell was simply sitting in his double-parked vehicle. But he said the officer decided to take a more aggressive approach.
“The opening of the car door was what triggered the incident and from there everything escalated,” he said. “There is resistance and there is endurance. [Mitchell] “He’s not fighting here.”
Meanwhile, in the second incident in South Los Angeles, a video also filmed by a bystander shows an officer with his arms around the head of a shirtless teenager as he rolls on the ground, police said in a news release.
The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of 70th and Main streets when officers saw people smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol next to several double-parked vehicles.
Officers said they saw the teen place an unknown object under the front passenger seat of the vehicle he was in and then flee. After a foot chase, “a non-categorical use of force occurred,” police said.
Officers struggled with the teen and at one point tasered him, which was ineffective, the news release said.
Additional officers arrived on scene and the subject was arrested, the release said.
The teen was booked into Los Padrinos Juvenile Center on suspicion of resisting a police officer, according to the department.
It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney. Two officers who were present were taken to the hospital with cuts to their hands, face and knees, according to the news release.
