Sponsored:
Raleigh, NC – A video has sparked outrage and claims of police brutality after it showed officers surrounding and hitting a man on the ground (video below.)
What that video didn't show was the minutes before he was taken to the ground, which was also recorded.
The details to what led up to the incident haven't been released at this time, but it occurred Friday at Garner Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The first video showed a man, later identified by family as Frederick Hall, 44, fighting with three police officers.
A witness told WRAL that she saw officers try to use a Taser on Hall, and do everything they could do get him down, but nothing seemed to work.
"They were hitting him as hard as they probably could, and he didn't seem even phased by it. He just kept going. He was swinging at them. It was everything they could do to get him down on the ground," witness Bonnie Kidder told WRAL. "I heard them say 'quit resisting,' and the gentleman was noncompliant, obviously."
The video shows Hall repeatedly punching the police officers, knocking them to the ground.
The fight moved out of the camera's view as officers were still attempting to take the crazed man down.
Then a second video was recorded which showed what happened as officers got him on the ground.
Six officers could be seen fighting to control Hall while he was on the ground. The officers repeatedly struck him and used control holds, but he continued to fight back.
At one point, he could be seen biting the ankle of a female officer who kicked at his face to get him to stop biting her.
The officers were finally able to take the man into custody, and he was transported to WakeMed for treatment.
Despite the shocking video of Hall attacking officers, many in the community are outraged after only the second video has been going viral.
The Save Our Sons organization called for firing all officers involved, according to WRAL.
The NAACP also spoke out against the video, saying, "Unlawful acts by a small number of our city police will not be tolerated."
Attorney Dawn Blagrove told The News & Observer, “There is a lack of trust between the black community and law enforcement because law enforcement displays over and over again their utter lack of respect for the lives of the citizens."
Despite the video showing the attack on officers, Blagrove says that those facts don't matter.
"It really doesn't matter what happened leading up to it because the standards of care being deployed by our law enforcement shouldn't matter," Blagrove said, according to WRAL. "They are trained law enforcement officers — we are not talking about a group of vigilante citizens with no training who are trying to subdue a situation. What could we know that would justify what we saw? What facts could change what we saw?"
The Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman says that she's investigating if criminal charges are appropriate against the officers involved.
You can see the videos of the fight below. NOTE: There are multiple videos, scroll down for more.
Please help share this article on social media so that people can see the truth about what really happened.