The Los Angeles Police Department released body cam footage Thursday of an officer punching a handcuffed man who was stopped for a parking infraction in Watts.
Video of the incident taken by a bystander went viral shortly after it happened on Sunday, drawing criticism and calls for justice. The new footage released by the LAPD pieces together two separate 30-minute body cam videos capturing the incident from different angles.
The video shows two officers approaching Alexander Mitchell’s car, which was double parked on a street corner in Watts. One officer opens the driver’s side door and tells Mitchell to step out of the vehicle, then says he needs to pat Mitchell down for weapons.
The officers then grab Mitchell’s arms and try to handcuff him while Mitchell repeatedly asks, “What did I do?” The body camera doesn’t capture Mitchell being punched in the face, but a crowd of bystanders can be heard shouting in reaction, with one person saying they caught it on video.
Mitchell later says he’s having trouble breathing. Paramedics arrive and place him on a gurney. Mitchell was taken to the hospital, then arrested for resisting arrest.
“Think of it, handcuffing for being double parked. Punching in your face for being double parked,” Mitchell’s attorney Brad Gage told KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian. “How outrageous is that? If every person at LAX got punched in the face by an officer or handcuffed by an officer because of being double parked, you would have 5,000 people in a week.”
Gage noted that the footage doesn’t show any punches being thrown, questioning whether the LAPD edited the video “to take out the stuff that is most problematic.”
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The officer who punched Mitchell was removed from duty while the incident is investigated. Gage said he thinks the officer should be fired and the District Attorney’s office should investigate and consider criminal charges.
Legal analyst Lou Shapiro told KNX News that there “doesn’t seem to be any justification” for the officer punching Mitchell. Criminal defense attorney and former L.A. County prosecutor Steve Meister also called the punch “gratuitous” and said both officers involved in the stop should be investigated.
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