Video of a wild arrest in the Gaslamp Quarter over the weekend has been making the rounds on social media and getting some criticism. Now, San Diego police are explaining what they say happened and how officers are stretched thin trying to deal with big weekend crowds downtown.
On Friday, San Diego police bike officers forcefully took down a man in a downtown parking lot at 6th and E. Police reported that he ran from them when they encountered a person beaten unconscious near the Omertà night club in the Gaslamp Quarter. Onlookers recorded the video and shared it with an online media site.
Capt. Ryan Hallahan spoke to reporters Thursday after the video went viral.
“He knew we were officers, said he was afraid, and that’s why he ran,” Hallahan said when describing the overall incident.
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The video shows a man dropping and sitting down between two cars while surrounded by several officers on bikes who jump off their bikes and lean over him, putting their weight on him. They aggressively pull his hands behind his back, pushing his head down on the concrete.
Dozens of people on social media people chimed in. One person tagged SDPD and wrote, “Learn how to and when to apply proper force to situations. And stop letting officers get away with abuse.”
Another Instagram user pointed out how the force was unnecessary given the suspect seemed to be complying.
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And another person commented in support of the officers, saying, in part: “Crime will not be tolerated. Suspect should have given up and submitted to handcuffing.”
Police say they review every incident and are not investigating this one further. They told NBC 7 they believe they followed use of force policy.
“He puts his hands up, but he’s still not cooperating. So, we are not going to sit there and be waiting. ‘Hey put your hands behind your back.’ He was ordered to get on his stomach, but he refused,” Hallahan said.
Some Instagram users argued that the man could not physically put his hands behind his back because officers were holding him down.
Hallahan described what led up to the video as a suspect running from police, specifically from the scene of a crime. Hallahan emphasized that the video doesn’t show the chase as officers identified themselves and told the suspect to stop.
But SDPD Lt. Dan Meyer told NBC 7 that the body-worn camera video does show it clearly, although they won’t be releasing it.
Hallahan described how an officer might be processing the incident as they’re approaching a suspect.
“We still don’t know why he ran, so the challenge is, was he running to something? Was he running to get rid of something? A lot of things go through a mind in these situations,” Hallahan said.
Officers handcuffed him but eventually let him go with a citation when a witness couldn’t connect him to the original crime. Meyer reiterated that this incident is still under investigation and does not mean the gentleman they handcuffed was not a suspect or not connected to the battery crime. They did cite the man for obstruction of a police officer while performing their duties.
Hallahan said the bike teams move onto the next incident immediately because there are plenty.
“You’re on the cusp of chaos every night, so the challenge for our bike team is we’re completely outnumbered and we are busy all night, especially at bar break," Hallahan said.
SDPD says roughly 50,000 people go to the Gaslamp Quarter on Friday and Saturday nights and that crime against people has increased. So, they’ve beefed up their bike teams, bring in more patrol and even borrowed officers from other divisions. Hallahan also said they review their body worn cameras to make sure they’re all following policy.
SDPD is not releasing the body-worn camera video and only do so in critical incidents.
The original crime, in which a victim was left unconscious on the street, is still under investigation. Meyer told NBC 7 there is no chance the police first encountered the man in the parking lot.
