Florence police released 18 minutes of body camera footage on Friday, a day after a video of a man being arrested at a gas station went viral.
Florence Police Chief Ron Tyler said in a statement that the video demonstrated his officers’ actions were “justified and appropriate” during the detention of Michael Stanford on unlawful conduct, resisting arrest, and criminal mischief charges.
Tyler went on to say that while neither Stanford nor his family or anyone representing them filed a complaint about the arrest, the criticism levelled at the officers by social media users who saw a video of Stanford screaming for help and collapsing while handcuffed was enough “to warrant an investigation.”
“After thoroughly investigating this matter, it has been concluded that the officers’ actions in this case are justified and appropriate,” Tyler wrote in a statement uploaded late Friday afternoon to the department’s Facebook page alongside the 18-minute video. “Because this incident has become part of the public discourse and has garnered much public attention, the matter warrants a public response. Therefore, we are posting camera footage below.”
The viral video, which showed Stanford yelling “help” several times and falling over while handcuffed and crouched, “is only a few seconds long,” according to the chief, while the film released by police shows “multiple perspectives of the incident.”
A Florence patrol car follows Stanford’s vehicle into a BP gas station for failing to signal, according to the body camera footage.
A commentary added to the video says that officers needed spotlights to see into the highly tinted vehicle.
Officers order Stanford to roll down his windows and come out of the car while Stanford appears to be on his cell phone, informing his mother that the officers are attempting to bust the window and harass him.
“They’re trying to beat me again,” he says as officers attempt to get him out of the car while he honks his horn. “Why are y’all beating me again?”
An cop then cuts Stanford’s seat belt with a knife and grabs his leg. He is eventually taken out of the vehicle.
As Stanford cries for aid, one officer takes his arm and subdues him.
Stanford’s hands are shackled behind his back, and he appears to stumble.
“I can’t breathe,” Stanford shouts several times. “I didn’t do nothing. Get off my knee, I’m not moving.”
“Stop resisting,” says one of the officers. “We’re good. We got him.”
Stanford then shakes his legs and declares, “I’m dying. They beat me for nothing.”
Stanford is then picked up from the floor by an officer.
A short time later, a guy identifying himself as Stanford’s father says he received a call informing him that Michael Stanford had been pulled over. According to a woman who looks to be Michael Stanford’s mother, Michael Stanford said officers beat him.
The allegations were rejected by an officer on the scene.
“None of us are interested in beating anybody,” the officer explained. “It takes way too much energy.”
Stanford was charged with disorderly behavior, resisting arrest, and criminal mischief in the third degree.
“This will be the police department’s final public response to this incident,” Tyler explained.
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