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Protesters Want #JusticeForJason After Video of Brutal Arrest Goes Viral

Posted byBy Zellie Imani | Published on: CommentsComments (1)

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Cellphone video of a young black teenager being aggressively restrained on Monday has sparked outrage on social media.

A video that went viral on Twitter appears to show Jason Goolsby, an 18-year-old freshman at Howard University, being brutally beaten and detained by police officers Monday night.

The video, which went viral on Twitter, shows 18 year old Goolsby being manhandled by two officers. Goolsby can be heard yelling and screaming as officers twist his arms behind his back. “I’m not resisting”, he said, as officers begin to handcuff him.

Goolsby’s friend, who was filming the incident, can be heard repeatedly telling the police, “He didn’t do nothing.” A third officer, than approaches the cameraman and threatens him with arrest before a scuffle breaks out and the video ends.

After posting the video, the friend posted the following tweet:

The video quickly went viral with the hashtag #JusticeForJason. Many on social media expressed outrage over the incident.

Officer Sean Hickman, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department, stated in an interview with Huffington Post:

“The initial call was for a suspicious person, three subjects may be trying to rob people at the ATM,” Hickman said in an email. “The location for the call was 6th St and Pennsylvania Ave SE. Officers in the area responded to the assignment. One individual fled on foot from the police, was chased, and then taken down. The individual resisted, and was handcuffed while resisting after he refused to stop. The person making the video was interfering with police, and was also detained while the incident was investigated. Neither individual was arrested.”

Yet, later DC police confirmed their original story not to be true.

On Tuesday afternoon, after organizing over social media, activists held a #JusticeForJason rally. Dozens chanted and blocked traffic in protest of the aggressive detainment.

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