South Bend officials are responding after a video showing a police officer restraining a juvenile on the ground circulated widely on social media.
The incident reportedly stemmed from a disturbance call on Friday, Aug. 15, near the downtown McDonald’s. The video, posted to social media by Black Lives Matter-South Bend and other groups shows an officer holding down what appears to be a juvenile.
Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski issued a statement on the department’s Facebook page acknowledging the video.
“The South Bend Police Department is aware of a video that was circulating on social media involving one of our officers on a call for a disturbance yesterday near the downtown McDonald’s,” Ruszkowski said. “SBPD is actively gathering further facts, evidence and video surrounding the incident and will release additional details, including the officer’s body camera footage, as soon as possible. As a reminder, SBPD has a multi-layered review process and will adhere to that review process.”
South Bend Common Councilman Dr. Oliver Davis called for transparency following the video’s release.
“Yesterday’s (Friday’s) event in South Bend as seen in this video goes to point out the need for prompt and thorough transparency regarding the police body cameras in relation to the public safety of our residents,” Davis said. “The public looks forward to understanding the key details of the investigation which can safely be made available to us.”
The police department said more information will be released once the review is complete.
2 comments
Just like in DC…feral “Utes” are protected by their status of being just shy of a number of years old to be considered adults. The treatment of this Ute should be accompanied by the crime/disturbance associated with it.
And of course BLM makes it all about race. If it was an Asian (or any other race) kid on the ground it would not have been mentioned. They are truly racists to the core.
The same community that complains about neighborhood crime turn around and complain when police do something about crime, because the criminal is someone who looks like them and therefore is above the law. This provides cover for the next criminal, who then commits another crime, and the community will suffer for it… and ramp up the complaints.
What a stupid vicious circle they have created.