HollyMatkinFort Worth, TX – The Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) issued a statement regarding the arrest of a combative man on Sunday, after a passerby recorded a snippet of the man’s arrest, and posted the video to social media (video below).
The brief video showed a FWPD officer striking 35-year-old Forrest Curry, as two officers attempted to place the man under arrest on Saturday.
What the 45-second video did not show, however, was the totality of what occurred during the four-and-one-half-minute altercation, FWPD Chief Joel Fitzgerald said in a press release.
“The video being circulated depicts officers struggling with the male and striking him as they attempt to handcuff him,” Chief Fitzgerald explained. “What the video does not depict is that it took three officers and one supervisor to effectively place the resisting subject into handcuffs.”
The FWPD was called to the scene after Curry attempted to fight with members of the Fort Worth Fire Department (FWFD), while they were handling a call for service, KTVT reported.
The firefighters asked police to “respond rapidly due to the subject’s combative actions toward them,” according to the FWPD press release.
Curry also appeared to be intoxicated, the firefighters said.
Curry attempted to run away when officers arrived, but was apprehended three blocks away following a brief foot pursuit.
He aggressively resisted arrest, prompting additional units to respond.
“Why are you punching me?” Curry squealed in the video.
Curry’s lawyers, L. Chris Stewart and Jasmine Crockett, claimed that Curry had experienced a seizure just before police arrived at the scene and he didn’t know that officers were on top of him, the New York Daily News reported.
“We are focusing on getting the victim of this police violence out of custody and ensuring that he receives the necessary medical attention for injuries suffered during the heavy-handed arrest by officers with the Fort Worth Police Department,” Stewart and Crockett said in written statement, according to The Dallas Morning News. “Unfortunately, it seems the Fort Worth Police Department has a culture of violating the rights of people of color.”
Crockett blasted Chief Fitzgerald for his objective response to the incident.
“You would think an African American chief, out of all people, would have some understanding this type of situation,” she told the New York Daily News.
Next Generation Action Network president Dominque Alexander “applauded” the chief for launching an internal investigation into the altercation, but said he believed the officers overreacted, according to KTVT.
“I still wanna know why the officer felt like he needed to use that level of aggression on him, striking him continuously,” Alexander said.
Police are legally allowed to hit people who actively resist arrest.
Curry was arrested for resisting arrest, evading arrest, and public intoxication, the New York Daily News reported.
You can watch the passerby’s video below: