South Bend Police have released body camera footage and details from Friday’s incident outside the McDonald’s on North Michigan Street, where an officer restrained a juvenile girl.
Police say the situation began when a McDonald’s employee called 911, reporting the girl was upset about her order, became aggressive, threatened staff, and refused to leave.
Bodycam video shows the girl crossing the street toward the officer. As the officer directed her to the sidewalk, the encounter turned physical. The video shows the officer grabbing her clothing before both went to the ground.
In the video, the girl said she hadn’t done anything wrong, while the officer warned her not to hit him. Police say the backpack came off when she twisted, and that the officer held her only long enough to calm her and safely place her in a patrol car.
Chief Scott Ruszkowski said officers must make split-second decisions and emphasized the girl was not thrown, punched, pepper-sprayed, or tased during the arrest.
Ruskowski said the Use Of Force Committee found that the officer did nothing wrong. An internal investigation of the incident is still underway.
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My wife and I were at the Mishawaka I-Hop restaurant about 10:30 one evening last year when the SB Adams girls’ basketball team entered. There were approximately 20 young people and no adults. My wife a retired HS teacher, talked to one of the girls with her letter jacket on; most of them had identifying clothing. They were seated across from us in one large group. After about an hour, they all rapidly left out various doors. It happened so fast we hardly realized what was going on. The floor manager asked us if we saw them leave, they had skipped out on a $200 food/drink tab. I told the manager they were from Adams, because of their team clothes and that one was the daughter of Coach Reynolds and she was in a foot cast – I recognized her from TV and news pictures and it would be wise to call the school principal. Police arrived shortly but no arrests – kids were long gone. The manager told us she might have to pay for the food as it is her responsibility for her customers.
There’s your transparency BLM…you were just being racist as usual.