Three Lansing, Michigan, police officers have been placed on administrative leave and an investigation by Michigan State Police is underway after video footage captured by a bystander and circulated on social media showed five officers pinning down and arresting a Black man last week.
Footage of the Nov. 10 arrest was first posted to Facebook by Brandon Hayduk, who witnessed the incident. Lansing police responded to a report of a fight involving multiple people around 11:20 p.m. in central Lansing.
After speaking with three people standing standing in the street, police concluded that a 25-year-old Black male was the primary suspect in th assault.
Lansing Public Information Director Robert Merritt said the man resisted as officers attempted to place him under arrest, so backup was called.
“During the lengthy struggle to secure the suspect, Officers deployed a Taser and delivered strikes,” Merritt said in a press release.
Hayduk, 37, filmed the arrest from a vehicle several yards away. He said he was going to a store when he saw a male officer confront the unidentified man, instructing him to get into a patrol car. By the time Hayduk left the store, the male officer and a second female officer were engaged in a physical altercation with the man.
After more officers arrived, Hayduk began to film the incident. The nearly four-minute video begins with several officers pinning the man against a wall, before slamming him to the ground, as other officers ran over to aid in the arrest.
“Get on your back, now!” an officer yelled, after the man hit the ground.
As the man continued to struggle against the ground while several officers pinned him down, one officer can be seen punching him multiple times in the head, causing him to cry out.
“Why are you hitting me?” he asked.
“Please don’t kill him!” Hayduk called out, several times.
“Give me your hands now!” a female officer instructed.
“I didn’t do it!” the man responded.
“I don’t f—ing care, just give me your hands now!” the officer said.
The man also said several times that he could not breathe.
After claiming that officers had Tased him seven times, and accusing one of trying to poke his eye out, the man shouted, “George Floyd! George Floyd! Black Lives Matter,” as he lay handcuffed on the ground.
Throughout the incident, it appears that at least five officers aided in the man’s arrest, while several more stood watch nearby.
An officer walked over to where Hayduk was filming, and told him to “get out of here,” just before the video ended.
Police have not released the man’s name but said the 25-year-old was taken to a hospital for an evaluation, which is routine for arrests involving the deployment of Tasers. The man was clearedand brought to a detention center.
Two officers sustained minor injuries, and the department is seeking charges from the prosecutor’s office.
The identity of the officer placed on unpaid leave has not been released. Police Chief Daryl Green said an Internal Affairs investigation will review the actions of all officers involved.
