Lafayette police have opened an internal investigation into an officer after a video showing the officer slamming a young man to the ground spread online.
Video
The president of the local NAACP shared the video with Acadiana News First, a local TV news outlet in the Lafayette, Louisiana, area.
An internal investigation means the police department is reviewing whether the officer broke department policy on the use of force. Those reviews are handled inside the department, and the results can lead to anything from no action to discipline or firing. They are separate from any criminal investigation.The Lafayette Police Department has not publicly identified the officer or the individual, who was identified as a teen, in the video. It also has not said when or where the arrest happened, what led up to it, whether the man was hurt, or whether he is facing charges.
The video is not the first this year to put Lafayette police under a spotlight. In June, a video showing officers in a violent confrontation with a group of men on a downtown sidewalk circulated widely, including through a post from local NAACP President Ravis Martinez, who raised concerns about excessive force. In August, the department said it was reviewing a separate 36-second video that appeared to show an officer taking a man who was already handcuffed to the ground.
It is not yet clear whether the newest investigation is connected to either of those earlier videos.
Short Link: https://balleralert.com/isb9
