A Black man tased by an officer as he lay pinned to the ground by two other officers outside a Georgia bar last week is asking why such force was used on him. The encounter was captured on video and posted to Twitter by a witness on Sept. 30, a post that has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
London Best, 20, was with his friends at the 1785 Bar in Grill in downtown Athens, Georgia, where he works as a bouncer, when he was arrested by officers who pinned him to the ground and tased him after employees at the Centro Bar next door called 911 on him.
Best had reportedly gotten into a verbal altercation with a white Centro bar employee earlier in the night. The altercation did not become physical, and Athens-Clarke County officers were dispatched to the scene.
According to a police report, Best said the employee threatened to shoot him and his friends, Jordan Cox and Marcel Parks.
Best and his friends had walked away from the altercation and were waiting for an Uber by the time police arrived. Best told officer Enrique Rivera he did not want to press charges. He became upset when the Centro employee walked outside, but after Rivera asked the employee to leave, Best calmed down and was told he could go back inside the 1785 Bar.
Hours later, Centro employees called 911 again in relation to Best, who was again awaiting an Uber with his friends when police arrived.
Another verbal altercation began when a Centro employee walked outside of the building. Rivera threatened to arrest Best for disorderly conduct or public drunk if he kept cursing.
Best was given a barring notice by another officer and told not to return to the bar for two years. When he refused to leave and continued to use profanity as he protested being given the ban order, Rivera attempted to arrest him for disorderly conduct.
“I don’t know what happened but something just ticked him [the officer at the scene] off and he just charged at me,” Best said. “He throws me into this car — and it has a dent in it now — and then he grabs my arm, twists and throws me to the ground,” Best said to The Red and Black.
In the video posted by Jordan Cox, Best is seen lying on the ground being manhandled by two officers when he is tased by a third. He writhes on the ground as a result of the shock. Bystanders said Best was not resisting.
“Bruh, he didn’t even do sh-t,” one man said. “He’s not even fighting.”
“When they had me on the ground, I thought they were going to shoot me,” Best said later. “I had no idea what was going on.”
He was charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail before he was released on bond later in the day. Best said he still does not know why he was arrested, and said he could still feel pain in his back from the shock a day later.
Members of the public, including politicians, have expressed concern that the officers used excessive force while arresting Best.
Mokah Jasmine Johnson, the Democratic candidate for state House District 117 responded to Cox’s tweet to get more information about the incident in order to file a discrimination complaint.
