Viral Video Sparks Outrage: Context Reveals Armed Pursuit and Police Response

Over the weekend, a video of a man being subdued by a police officer went viral on social media and sparked outrage.  Interestingly, the eleven-second video only captured a portion of what actually transpired that night. Love News did some digging, and found that the detainee was one of three alleged gunmen being pursued. The video clip captures an officer kicking a man and hitting him in the face with a gun while using expletives.  At face value it would paint a black eye solely on the police officer, but essentially, what happened minutes before, paints a different story. On Saturday night, police in San Pedro received reports of two minors being chased by a group of armed men. Police responded and pursued the three suspects, one of whom is seen in the video. The man in that video was subdued but had escaped police custody shortly after while his alleged accomplices were detained and charged.  The charges came after the minors and their mothers made official reports to the police incriminating the trio. Many in the court of public opinion, criticized the aggression of the police officer, and while there may have been aspects to criticize, Love News understands that in the detaining an armed individual, officers are taught to place suspects to kneel or lie down until it can be verified if he is indeed armed or not. At today’s press brief with the Polcie, ACP Hilberto Romero did not comment on the video, but the officer in question did issue his very own press release.  The cop took to social media and stated, quote, “Police got shot the other day and nobody said anything. Another mother cried another son was buried. I’m sorry I will do my job the way I think it’s best for me to stay safe. Let them say whatever they want to say.”  End of quote.  As depicted in the video, the cop wanted the recording to stop and approached the witness. However, we note that the Commissioner of Police has stated that it is not an offense to record police officers from a safe distance.