On Monday afternoon, police in Texarkana, Texas pushed back against a viral video showing the arrest of a Prescott, Arkansas man on Sunday. The video shows the arrest and a crowd of local citizens. Police say the video doesn't give the full story in a press release titled "Video on Social Media Misrepresents Facts of Arrest."
Text of statement by Texarkana, Texas Police Department:
The Texarkana Texas Police Department arrested George Cummings, Jr, 28, of Prescott, Arkansas, for Criminal Trespass and Resisting Arrest at a local apartment complex on Sunday. A partial video of the arrest was posted on social media along with allegations of the officers using excessive force.
Officers were dispatched to the report of a disturbance at Town North Apartments where a man was assaulting a woman in the parking lot. When they arrived, an apartment complex employee pointed out Cummings as the man who was fighting and told officers that he was recently banned from the property. The employee said that he wanted to file charges for Criminal Trespass.
When the three officers attempted to place Cummings into custody, he immediately began to pull away from them and a struggle ensued. They went to the ground where Cummings continued to resist. Despite repeated commands to place his hands behind his back and the use of pepper spray, he continued to lock his arms under this body. Officers also used several strikes with their hands and forearms to Cummings’ back and side. Additional officers responded to assist taking Cummings into custody and keep the increasingly aggressive crowd from interfering with their efforts. Officers were eventually able to handcuff him but were forced to carry him to the patrol unit after he refused to walk on his own.
Officers transported Cummings to an ambulance that was staged a few blocks away to be evaluated as a result of his exposure to the pepper spray. After he was determined to not have any medical issues, he was transported to the Bi-State Jail,
The video which has circulating on social media appears to misrepresent the facts as it only shows a portion of the actual event. It starts after Cummings was on the ground and officers were struggling to place him under arrest.
As with all incidents where officers use force to make an arrest, this incident was reviewed by the department’s supervisory staff. They determined that the officers involved used only the reasonable amount of necessary force to effect the arrest and Cummings suffered no injuries as a result of this arrest.
Cummings’ bond was set at $3,000 for the Criminal Trespass charge and $5,000 for Resisting Arrest.
Editor's note: Any person arrested or charged with a crime is presumed innocent if and until they are convicted in a court of law.
Posted by Keith Clark on Sunday, May 12, 2019
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