LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A man seen on video being punched by a Louisville Metro Police officer now has attorneys working for him to mull over a possible lawsuit.
Jarrus Ransom was arrested last Sunday at a West Louisville Kroger. Much of the arrest was captured on video by witnesses. It shows officer wrestling Ransom to the ground and then several punches thrown by one officer.
"Here's the bottom line ... they stopped the man for excessive tint, pulled him out of the car and beat him," said Ransom’s defense attorney Rob Eggert. "And why the county is defending this conduct, I don't know, because it's not defensible."
Ransom now has two other attorneys looking into the possibility of filing a lawsuit against police. Jeremy Winton and Chauncey Hiestand joined Ransom back at the Kroger Sunday afternoon.
“Most people in law enforcement are honorable people. And we look for to them for help,” Winton said. “Unfortunately in any group, there are some bad seeds.”
No lawsuit has been filed yet as Hiestand says they plan to let the criminal proceedings for Ransom “play out” before moving forward.
“We have been retained to help Mr. Ransom obtain some sort of justice for this case,” Hiestand said.
LMPD Chief Steve Conrad announced last week that he had launched an internal investigation into the incident. To date, no police body camera footage has been released in spite of public outcry to do so.
According to an arrest report, Ransom was acting suspicious and allowed police to search his car just after 2 p.m. Sunday. That's when police say they noticed liquid on his pants, found an open Pepsi can in the SUV and emptied it onto the ground.
Officers say three pills fell out of the can, and Ransom broke from the officer's grip, rammed his shoulder into another officer and destroyed two of the pills.
Court records show Ransom has a long criminal history that includes resisting arrest, fleeing from police and various drug charges. In this case, Ransom is charged with possession of drugs, tampering with evidence and resisting arrest. Police say the body camera video won't be released because of the LMPD Professional Standards Unit investigation.
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