A police officer has been caught on camera kneeling on a young man’s neck while the suspect is asking the cop to get off his neck and claiming he can’t breathe.
While the incident occurred back in July 2019, the bodycam footage came to the spotlight amid nationwide protests against police brutality.
According to the reports, police officers Luke Austin, John Earle, and William Jimenez pulled over the family of Janet Feliciano just when they were about to reach the driveway of their home in Orlando, Florida, after allegedly noticing that the young man in the passenger’s seat wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
As the cops confronted the family, the boy allegedly ignored them and walked into his home along with some other family members.
After Officer Jimenez asked Feliciano to send the young man out of the house, the son allegedly opened the front door whereas one of the officers tried to force his way in according to the mother.
As Feliciano’s other kids attempted to block him, the officers allegedly started pulling everyone out of the home and proceed to handcuff them.
In one of the bodycam footages, one of the officers is seen kneeling on the neck of one of the boys while the young man tells him he can’t breathe because of asthma.
According to Feliciano’s son, he only intervened after the officers grabbed his pregnant sister and tossed her on the ground.
Following the incident, the police insisted they acted this way after sensing the smell of marijuana coming out of the family’s home.
Defending the actions of the officers was Police Chief Orlando Rolon who claimed the cops didn’t attempt to enter the home and suggested the young man with a knee on his neck wasn’t endangered.
“The way the officer is holding him is not going to restrict his ability to speak, not going to restrict his ability to voice his concerns about the situation, so keep that in mind,” Rolon said in an interview with WFTV 9.
As the police chief added, the officers were merely acting to “secure” the home rather than trying to enter it.
“They were trying to secure the home. Unfortunately when you have a situation where, say, it’s suspected potential that there’s a drug in the home, you have to secure the premises, meaning you have to control what’s going on,” he added.
After the incident, Feliciano’s kids had been arrested for resisting arrest and battery of a police officer. Later on, however, these charges were dropped. The officers didn’t cite Feliciano’s son for not wearing a seatbelt.
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Replaced!