A Pennsylvania police officer was seen putting his knee on a man’s neck as he tried to hold him in Saturday night, comparing the infamous viral video showing George Floyd before his death that sparked a nationwide trial against racial injustice and police brutality.
Ben Crump, the attorney representing the Floyd family, shared a video of the Allentown, Pa. Incident, on social media, demanding the officer’s name and insignia.
GRAPHIC VIDEO: @AllentownPolice held this man’s face against the pavement and then one of his officers put his knee on his neck! This happened yesterday and is exactly what led to # GeorgeFloyd’s death. We need the name and insignia of this officer # NOW. #ICantBreathe, “he wrote.
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Black Lives Matter in Lehigh Valley initially posted a slightly longer clip of the incident on Saturday, writing “@AllentownPolice were filmed on Saturday night applying the same force to a resident that #GeorgeFloyd cops used to murder.” This happened here in #Allentown outside a hospital.
“We demand answers. We demand change. We have finished dying. #DefundThePolice ”, said the tweet.
Cell phone images taken Saturday from a passer-by’s vehicle show three Allentown officers pinning a man to the ground in front of the Sacred Heart Campus Emergency Room at St. Luke’s Hospital.
An officer has his elbow on the man’s neck before changing to a knee to hold him while the other two officers hold his arms. A hospital staff member stands next to the officers as they hold the man to the ground.
The entire clip lasted less than 30 seconds. It was not clear from the video how long the officer held his knee against the man’s nape.
By contrast, the May 25 cell phone video that captured Floyd’s arrest showed that former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, even after Floyd lost knowledge, according to an analysis by the New York Times. Chauvin and three other officers involved have been charged in connection with Floyd’s death.
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Protesters marched to the Allentown Police Department on Saturday night, and Mayor Ray O’Connell and Allentown Police Chief Glenn Granitz Jr. showed up early Sunday morning to answer questions.
Granitz Jr. said the department was conducting an internal investigation into the incident but was unable to provide him with a “24-hour and 48-hour schedule” to determine when it would be completed.
O’Connell, a Democrat, said the clip was “disturbing,” but added: “I think we need to gather all the facts and information before moving forward,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Allentown police reiterated in a statement released Sunday night that the interaction is under investigation and that additional videos are being reviewed.
The department, like many others across the country, launched its use of force policy earlier this month, five weeks after Floyd’s death. The policy prohibits neck restraints and bottlenecks. He says officers should only use the amount of force necessary to control the situation.
According to the police statement, officers were out of the hospital on an unrelated matter when they saw a man staggering on the street, vomiting and stopping at the entrance to the emergency room.
Officers and hospital staff interacted with the man, who began yelling and spitting at them, police said. The statement says the man “failed to comply, requiring officers to restrict him.”
The man was treated at the hospital and released. Authorities have not released the name or race of any person seen in the video. Police said in their statement that they plan to release more videos later this week.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said his office will also review the Allentown Police Department’s findings, according to the Investigator.
Allentown Councilman Joshua Siegel said on Twitter, “I am disgusted and outraged. This is unacceptable conduct by our officers. There must be action: make the body camera images public. Suspend officers during the investigation. It ends those who violate the use of force policy. ”
Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach posted a video on Facebook describing how she attended the “passionate” but “peaceful” protest outside the Allentown Police Department on Saturday night because “fundamentally, people need to feel safe in their communities and they need to know if a police officer is going to use an illegal hold to hold him or her accountable. ”
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State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, a Democrat, also said on Twitter that “protesters last night sang ‘Black Lives Matter’ for a reason. You would have to be ruthless not to hear the pain and anger in their voices, or the trauma in the voice of the man in the video that says, “I thought we mattered.” I can’t hear his voice.
The local Black Lives Matter chapter is planning another march to City Hall on Monday night with community leaders scheduled to be speakers.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
