A viral video of a Sacramento, Calif., police officer throwing a pedestrian to the ground and repeatedly punching him has led to an investigation by authorities.
Naomi Montaie uploaded a Facebook Live video of an unnamed Sacramento police officer approaching Nandi Cain Jr. on Monday, April 10.
Cain stood in front of the officer before removing his jacket and the officer lunged at Cain, placed his arm around his neck and dragged him to the ground before punching him several times. Another officer arrived at the scene to help place Cain in handcuffs.
A raw video of the incident released Tuesday, April 11, by the SPD captured what happened leading up to the scuffle. The officer, who is a two-year veteran of the department according to a police statement, approaches Cain and tells him, “You’re jaywalking.”
“I looked both ways,” Cain responds.
The two began arguing as they left the sidewalk and stood on the road. The officer commanded Cain to “get down on the ground, now” as Cain pointed out the officer was holding on to his gun adding he didn’t have anything on him before removing his jacket.
By this time, the vehicle Montaie was riding in had pulled up to the incident.
“If you a real man, you can put your gun away and you can fight me like a real man if that’s what you want to do,” Cain says.
The video recorded what Montaie uploaded to Facebook, with an officer heard saying, “I’ll break your f——” arm.
“Why could you not just comply?” one officer says.
“I thought I was going to be like the next Trayvon Martin,” Cain told KCRA Tuesday. “I thought, as soon as they got me on the ground and they start putting my arms in different positions. I felt like they were going to draw a gun out and shoot me in my back or try to break my arms off or something.”
A statement SPD released Tuesday explained Cain was arrested for resisting arrest and for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant in Fresno County.
“While in the backseat of the patrol vehicle and before being transported to the Sacramento County Jail, the subject began to violently kick the interior of the patrol car and had to be restrained by a leg hobble,” the statement said of what’s shown in the police-issued video. “Once at jail, the suspect continued to be physically resistive with sheriff deputies.”
Police have reviewed the in-car videos and the Facebook video and an administrative and criminal investigation have been launched. The officer, whose “actions appeared to be outside of policy,” was placed on paid administrative leave.
Cain’s criminal charges were dropped and a court date was issued for his warrant Tuesday morning after “investigative staff determined that there were insufficient grounds for making a criminal complaint against” him.
“The Department will also be reviewing academy and post-academy officer training to ensure that our tactics are in line with best practices nationwide,” the statement said. “The actions of the involved Sacramento police officer are disturbing and do not appear to be reasonable based upon the circumstances. The Sacramento Police Department holds itself to the highest professional standard and the actions that were observed are not indicative of the dedicated women and men who work for the Department.”
