Warning: These images can be disturbing.
A police officer brutally pulls a black, paralyzed man named Clifford Owensby out of his car.
This case of police violence is currently the subject of lively discussion in the United States. The city of Dayton in the US state of Ohio has now published the recordings of the bodycams of the police officers involved.
According to the police, the officers were on patrol and were sent to an alleged “drug house”. Owensby was just leaving the property in his white Audi, so the police called for a traffic stop.
Although he was able to identify himself to the police, it emerged that he had a criminal record for drug and weapon offenses.
The bodycam recordings show 39-year-old Owensby repeatedly being asked to get out of his vehicle. He explains to the police that he is paraplegic and that he cannot simply get out. The officers offer him their help several times, but Owensby refuses and asks for a supervisor.
He calls someone to come to the crime scene to testify what is going on.
Reinhorcher approx. 12.30 p.m.: “Come here and bring people with you with cameras. Just come down the street and bring cameras. I need witnesses. “
Then the situation escalates. The officers drag Owensby out of the car under the eyes of his three-year-old son in the back seat. They handcuff him while he keeps screaming for help. Then two policemen drag him across the asphalt into a police car.
Police report that they found a large bag containing more than $ 22,000 in cash in his car. According to Owensby, these are supposed to be savings.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley called the footage “worrying”. Meanwhile, Owensby has filed a complaint with the NAACP, one of the largest and best-known black civil rights organizations in the United States. The case will be forwarded to the public prosecutor.
US President Joe Biden announced in the election campaign that he wanted to reform the police (and take more decisive action against “systemic racism”). A corresponding law has already been introduced, but it failed at the end of September due to the lack of a majority in Congress. The reform should prohibit police officers from strangleholdings and limit the extensive civil immunity of officials in the event of misconduct. There is great resistance to the reform, especially among the conservative Republicans. Since there is also no unity within the Democratic Party, Biden has to worry about his central reform projects – also with regard to the debt ceiling and his investment plans.