The Allentown Police Department on Monday released nearly nine minutes of surveillance footage showing officers subduing a man outside a local hospital Saturday evening.
The group, Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley, and Ben Crump, the attorney representing George Floyd’s family, had shared a video over the weekend they claim showed the same incident.
They claimed an officer could be seen in that video holding his knee on a man’s neck outside the Sacred Heart Campus of St. Luke’s Hospital. The video recorded before 7 p.m. from a passerby’s vehicle drew comparisons to the infamous viral video showing Floyd before his death in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 that sparked a nationwide reckoning against racial injustice and police brutality.
In a press release Monday, the police in the Pennsylvania city outlined what is seen on the roughly nine-minute video from a vantage point across the street.
Allentown Police said that the first four minutes show someone who appears to be suffering from a “medical, mental health or drug and alcohol crisis.” The individual drops his cell phone and appears to vomit multiple times before then appearing to have trouble walking and standing, the department said.
Two Allentown police officers, who were at the hospital on an unrelated matter, are on the video “communicating and interacting with the distressed person in an effort to direct him toward the emergency room entrance.”
“The Middle portion of the video depicts a physical interaction between the individual, police and hospital staff,” according to the press release. “Approximately 23 seconds of the middle portion of the video is reflected in what has been observed on social media.
“During the physical interaction, a breathable spit mask is placed over the head of the individual. The mask is used to protect hospital staff, officers and others from coming into contact with bodily fluids such as vomit and saliva,” police said. “The final portion of the video depicts hospital staff and police escorting the individual into the hospital. The individual received treatment and was later released.”
The department is interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence related to the incident, according to the press release. The Lehigh Valley district attorney also is conducting an investigation and is expected to release a statement once it is complete later in the week.
The local chapter of Black Lives Matter organized a protest Monday evening at the base of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Seventh and Hamilton Street.
Announcing the second protest on its Facebook page Monday, Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley said, “We are asking that all law enforcement DO NOT attend a police Brutality and culture protest that you have contributed to.”
Protesters who attended the rally chanted “F*** The Police” and held signs that read “Blue Klux Klan,”“Shut It Down” and “Respect Existence or Expect Resistance,” according to Lehigh Valley Live. Speakers also demanded that officials release the name of the officer involved, fire him and bring criminal charges against him.
Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley said on Facebook that the nearly nine-minute video released by the Allentown Police Department showed, “This is a man who needed help not to be arrested.”
Describing the longer video, the local chapter of Black Lives Matter maintained that, “I see a man who needs medical attention! The man appears to plead with the officers as they approach him. He was nonviolent. Notice the leg sweep to drop him to the floor. There was no real resistance and certainly not enough to justify a KNEE to the neck.”
Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley said it plans to present a resolution to the Allentown City Council on Wednesday to remove exceptions from the police department’s use-of-force policy, ban no-knock warrants, make body camera usage mandatory, and adopt the Obama administration’s 8 Can’t Wait use of force recommendations, among other demands.
Allentown police released its use-of-force policy earlier this month, five weeks after Floyd’s death. The policy prohibits neck restraints and chokeholds. It says officers should only use the amount of force necessary to control the situation.
The first protest in response to the Allentown incident came before midnight Saturday in front of the town’s police headquarters.
Mayor Ray O’Connell and Allentown Chief Glenn Granitz Jr. answered questions early Sunday morning. O’Connell said the clip was “disturbing,” but added, “I think we need to gather all the facts and information before we go forward.”
