Video Shows Minneapolis Police Watching As Bouncer Punches Handcuffed Man
Minneapolis police said Tuesday they are investigating a video which appears to show an incident from early Sunday morning in which two on-duty police officers watch a bouncer punching a handcuffed man three times in the face. The video is said to be filmed outside a downtown strip club named Augie's Bourbon Street Cabaret.
The video, clicked by a bystander, was posted it on social media Sunday. By Tuesday morning, it had been viewed over 16,000 times on Facebook and had more than a hundred shares.
The 10-second video clip shows the bouncer punching the handcuffed man on the pavement of the club before he is pulled away by a crowd. A police report claimed the incident occurred at 2:17 a.m. EDT on Sunday. The 28-year-old David S. Mitchell, who was being punched, was cited for 5th-degree assault "after officers witnessed him assault a security [sic] at that location."
"An adult male was cited and released for misdemeanor 5th-degree assault. While in custody, this suspect was assaulted by another adult male," the report reads, according to Fox 9 News. "It appears that an officer was near the second incident and was in the process of activating his body camera and speaking into his shoulder microphone at the time it occurred."
The video also focuses on two police officers who were present at the scene but none of them intervened to stop the bouncer from punching Mitchell. One of the police officers can be seen talking into his police radio the entire time.
Bystanders were heard calling repeatedly for the bouncer to stop with one person yelling: "You can't do that, man!" Many users commented on the video stating that the police officers could have intervened and prevented the situation from escalating, according to Fox 9 News.
Mitchell was released "for the treatment of injuries received during the altercation," the police report said. The report also identified the two officers as Tobias Anderson and Joseph Klimmek. The bouncer, identified as Lonnie Davis declined to comment on the incident when reached by phone by Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Catherine Michal told Star Tribune the officers' role during the situation is being examined.
"We are looking into it right now … to make sure everything was handled correctly," Michal said. She also warned people into reading too much into the clip, adding that it was not the entire incident that happened outside the club.
In a subsequent statement, Michal also mentioned that the police officers arrived after the first assault on the handcuffed man and that one of the officers also turned on his camera in order to capture at least a part of the altercation.
"It appears that an officer was near the second incident and was in the process of activating his body camera and speaking into his shoulder microphone at the time it occurred," Michal said.
Imani Jaafar, director of the Office of Police Conduct Review, which is the organization that investigates complaints against police, said Tuesday that her office has been examining and reviewing the entire incident in order to determine whether it would be required to launch a formal investigation.
"We are going to take it under consideration," she said. "We’re in the beginning stages of looking at it."
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