Purdue University police are reviewing an officer's use of force during the arrest of a Black male student last week on the school's campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Entertainment website TMZ reported that cellphone video of the arrest appears to show a white officer with an elbow pressed against the neck and face of a Black man he had pinned to the ground in the snow.
A woman recording the incident yells that the officer is hurting her boyfriend. She taps the officer, and he responds by warning her he will use his Taser on her if she does it again, TMZ said.
Andrew M. Stroth, a civil rights attorney for the man in the video and his family, identified his client as Adonis Tuggle, a student at Purdue.
Tuggle’s mother, Cornelia Dawson, wrote Thursday in a letter to Purdue President Mitchell Daniels, Jr., that she is “very disturbed, disappointed and more fearful for” her son at Purdue University.
“I have seen a video repeatedly, and spoken to several people since this incident, and as I write this letter to you, I am still feeling overwhelmed with emotions that lead to tears running down my face, one week afterwards,” Dawson wrote.
Purdue University Police Chief John Cox said in a statement Wednesday that the officer arrested the man Friday following a call from a third party who said “it appeared a woman was being held against her will.”
The statement did not identify the arrested man, say if he was charged or for how long he was detained.
Internal reviews are conducted whenever an officer uses force during an arrest, the police department said.
The investigation will “include input from all witnesses to the arrest and take into account all available evidence, including video from officers’ body-worn cameras and statements from the students involved,” the department said. It said no one was hurt in the arrest.
Stroth told The Associated Press Thursday that he and Tuggle's family are demanding a full investigation and the release of police body camera video. He said any charges against Tuggle should be dropped.
In her letter, Dawson also asked Daniels to “do everything within your power to hold the Purdue University police officer accountable for hurting my son; and creating an unsafe and uncomfortable educational experience for him, as well as other students who are now concerned and disturbed about this matter.”
Daniels said in a statement that the inquiry into how the officer handled the incident will be “swift and thorough.”
“As an additional step, following the internal review, the Indiana State Police will immediately commence an independent review of the PUPD investigation and video evidence,” Daniels said. “Should there be a finding of misconduct by the officer, appropriate action will be taken promptly.”
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Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.
