Justice for Jaemiier!
Body cam video released by the Canton Police Department in Ohio shows a police officer allegedly kicking a Black man while he was kneeling on the ground with his hands in the air, WKYC 3 reports.
The disturbing video, which went viral on social media, shows Officer Brandon Momirov kicking 21-year-old Jaemiier McElroy on Aug. 31 after police were called to an apartment complex. Someone called to alert officers of an alleged argument involving approximately 10 to 15 people. Authorities claim a number of individuals fled once police arrived. Others were located and ordered to the ground.
McElroy was one suspect whom the department admitted to appearing to be complying before he was kicked. Police said McElroy and two others, who can be heard in the video expressing concern, were arrested and claimed to allegedly have two handguns and a backpack containing “a large amount of marijuana” that were found at the scene.
The footage shows angles from two officers, including Momirov, which shows a brief chase of a suspect accused of carrying a gun. One officer finds McElroy and four others in a parking lot. As the officer shouts for the suspects to stop walking, he then calls for backup.
“I got five at gunpoint in this parking lot, not really complying. I could use more units,” he is heard saying.
The call for backup prompts the Ohio officer to begin running to the area, but when he arrives, four of the men are already lying on the ground, including McElroy, who is on his knees with his hands up. Momirov runs right for him and kicks him. After the shock of the kick, the officer can be heard saying, “That’s why you gotta comply.”
McElroy was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest, despite authorities’ admission of him omplying with officers’ orders.
A statement from the Canton Police Department said Momirov is “working in a restricted capacity” and “the incident is under review,” McElroy’s attorney, Bobby DiCello, was more candid.
“This is disgusting. This is disgusting. What I just saw was renegade, rogue, gang-style policing,” DiCello said. “There’s a double standard in law enforcement. That’s what this shows me. We have one, two, three, four African American young men who are standing by a car, and they call that resisting. When law enforcement fails to see us as human beings, anything is possible. Anything.”
DiCello said his client suffered a concussion, according to the Atlanta Black Star. After Canton Police Chief John Gabbard defended Momirov, claiming “our officers frequently face stressful, dangerous situations and confrontations with armed suspects,” DiCello labeled the comments as laughable.
“There’s a group of people in Canton that are law enforcement officers who are treating ordinary civilians like enemy combatants,” he said. “If this was in another context, you’d say that’s a crime spree.”
Canton NAACP President Hector McDaniel said he is disappointed in the officer’s actions and is “always alarmed” when incidents like this occur.
“Solutions for us are going to center around an oversight committee and or a board that we believe can bring assistance in terms of bringing policing in line with the written mission and goals that it already has,” McDaniel said. “It is about making sure that policing does not drift too far to the left. We believe that that’s what’s occurred here in Stark County, specifically in Canton.”
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