A video shows a police officer repeatedly winding up and kicking a man
sitting on the
curb, and while
Orlando's police
chief says the
officers
involved remain
on duty,
attorneys for
the man who got
kicked say the
video is all
they need to
demand the
officers'
arrest.
"If it were you
or I that kicked
someone and used
a weapon against
them while they
were sitting
passively, we
would be
arrested. That
doesn't happen
to the police,"
attorney Natalie
Jackson said
during a
Wednesday
news conference.
"I don't have to
tell citizens
what they see.
It's there. It
is the police
who are asking
us not to
believe what we
see on the
tape."
Her client, Noel
Carter, a
30-year-old
Miami-area
banker, wore a
suit and a
bandage over his
right temple as
he told
reporters the
police first
approached him
as he was
engaged in a
"disagreement"
with a woman he
had known for a
long time. The
incident did not
warrant police
intervention, he
said, denying
allegations he
was intoxicated.
Carter
thanked the
woman who
recorded the
police as they
kicked him and
dubbed the
footage "an
accurate
representation
of the abuses
inflicted on me
... while I was
seated with my
hands raised on
the curb."
Though the video
shows an officer
kicking Carter
in the arm, he
was kicked in
the head before
the woman
started filming,
he added.
WESH: Woman
who recorded
video says "That
was too much"
First, muscle,
pepper spray and
a baton...
The June 4
incident began
when a staff
member at a club
where Officers
David Cruz and
Charles Mays
were
moonlighting
told them about
an altercation
down the street,
according to
Cruz's statement
from the arrest
affidavit.
Cruz saw
Noel Carter
"attempting to
grab and hold" a
Hispanic woman
as she tried to
walk away from
him, he wrote.
The woman was
crying, and Cruz
asked Carter to
stand on the
corner while he
interviewed the
woman, the
statement said.
The
woman told Cruz
that Carter was
intoxicated, the
report said, and
they were
arguing because
they had just
broken up after
dating for two
years and Carter
did not want her
to leave.
When Cruz
finished
interviewing the
woman, he walked
over to talk to
Carter, who told
Cruz he was
going to speak
to her, Cruz
wrote. The
officer told
Carter he
couldn't speak
to her, to which
Carter replied,
"You're not
going to stop
me," according
to Cruz's
report.
Cruz tried to
handcuff Carter,
who resisted,
Cruz said. At
that point, Mays
pepper-sprayed
Carter, who
walked off
unfazed,
according to the
report. The
officers tried
more physical
force to subdue
him and Cruz
deployed his
Taser three
times, "but it
did not have the
desired effect,"
Cruz wrote.
"Carter
turned towards
me and attempted
to grab my
Taser," Cruz's
statement said,
adding that the
officer then hit
Carter with a 2-
to 3-second
burst of pepper
spray before
attempting to
pull him to the
ground.
Video shows
Delaware police
officer kicking
man in head
Carter broke
free and ran
about 100 yards
before sitting
on the curb. His
eyes stinging
from the pepper
spray, Cruz
ordered Carter
to put his hands
behind his back,
an order that
Cruz claims
Carter refused,
instead lunging
at the officers.
Cruz then hit
him five times
in the arm with
his baton, he
wrote.
This, too,
failed to subdue
Carter,
according to the
officer. Fearing
Carter might
"regain power
and get back up"
Cruz "attempted
to restrain him
using my legs
and arms," he
wrote. Carter
broke free,
tried to stand
up, then sat
back down,
causing Cruz to
scrape his elbow
and knee on the
concrete, the
statement said.
Taser
deployed
multiple times
"I decided to
deliver foot
strikes using
the top of my
foot, in order
to maintain
distance and in
hopes Carter
would comply. I
stood up and
began delivering
several kicks
with my right
foot to Carter's
right arm in
between his
elbow and
shoulder while
telling him,
`Stop
resisting,' "
Cruz alleged.
Mays
then deployed
his Taser again
and Carter
rolled onto his
stomach and
placed his hands
behind his back,
according to the
officer.
There are at
least three
videos of the
incident, none
of which show
the entire
altercation. The
aforementioned
video begins
with Cruz
kicking Carter.
Another
witness's video
shows an officer
deploying a
Taser and Carter
running in the
opposite
direction,
disappearing
behind a curtain
as the sound of
the Taser is
heard a second
time.
A third
video, which the
Orlando Sentinel
bills as
surveillance
footage, shows
Carter trotting
across the
street and
sitting down as
the officers
give chase. The
video is grainy
-- and it
doesn't help
that it's
nighttime, about
10 p.m. -- but
the officers
appear to
approach him on
the curb, kick
him and wrestle
with him before
one of the
officers hits
him with a baton
and delivers
another series
of kicks.
Police video
shows
'horrifying'
arrest of
pregnant woman,
ACLU says
"They ...
literally beat
me like a dog in
the street,"
Carter told
CNN's "New Day"
on Thursday.
John Mina,
who celebrated
his first
anniversary as
Orlando police
chief last
month, told
reporters he has
asked the
Florida
Department of
Law Enforcement
to conduct an
investigation
into the
incident.
At first
glance, he said
he has no
indication that
either officer
should be
suspended or
prohibited from
working off-duty
security jobs.
The video of
Cruz kicking
Carter doesn't
tell the whole
story, the chief
said, and it
doesn't
demonstrate that
Carter was
intoxicated,
uncooperative,
resisting arrest
and attempting
to flee at
numerous points.
Mina
took issue with
Carter's
statement that
police
intervention was
unnecessary,
saying the
Orlando Police
Department takes
potential
domestic or
dating violence
situations
seriously.
"I have no
reason to take
them off the
street," Mina
said of Cruz and
Mays, adding
that neither
officer has a
discipline
history.
Pressed on
whether it's OK
for one of his
officers to kick
a man who's
sitting down,
Mina said, "We
are fully
committed to
thoroughly
investigating
the entire
incident."
'That was
not OK'
The woman who
took one of the
videos told CNN
affiliate WKMG
that she doesn't
need to know
what happened
before she began
recording it.
"That
right there was
unacceptable,"
she said, "and
for me,
recording that,
I don't have to
see what
happened. That
was not OK."
Carter's
attorney
concurred: "The
police
department is
not trained to
beat, punch,
kick, Tase
people who are
in a submissive
position.
There's nowhere
in the training
matrix that you
will ever see
that."
The police
reports that
have been
released to the
public, she
said, "are
clearly
erroneous and
false." Carter
told a reporter
that, contrary
to police
allegations, he
was "not in any
way"
intoxicated.
Carter
traveled to
Orlando to
attend a concert
with a woman,
who invited him
to the show and
bought him a
ticket, his
lawyers said. A
disagreement
arose and the
two were
discussing it
when the police
approached, they
said. The woman
did not summon
police,
according to the
attorneys.
"When I was
pushed and
essentially when
I was abused by
these officers,
I was completely
taken aback and
surprised by the
situation,"
Carter said. "We
were having a
disagreement. We
were having a
simple
discussion
between two
individuals in a
public setting."
When
police became
aggressive, the
lawyers claim,
Carter attempted
to get away, at
one point
fleeing before
thinking better
of it and
sitting on the
curb.
As
to Mina's claim
that people
should consider
what
precipitated the
police kicking
Carter before
arriving at a
conclusion,
attorney Jackson
begged to
differ.
"You do not have
to look at the
totality to see
the abuse that
is done and the
unlawful use of
force by these
officers," she
said.
Carter said he
hopes Cruz and
Mays will be
charged with
battery and
aggravated
battery with a
weapon.