The Dayton Daily News has a shocking video where police officers forcibly removed a paraplegic Black man from his vehicle by his hair.
The man, identified as Clifford Owensby, was thrown onto the ground, had handcuffs placed on him, and jammed in the backseat of a police car after he declined officers’ requests. Backup would later arrive with a K-9 unit to search his vehicle under the suspicion of drugs and guns.
Owensby told the outlet the experience made him feel helpless.
“I feel like they don’t even respect me as a citizen,” Owensby said.
He said that he sustained injuries during the altercation, including several scratches and scrapes. In addition, he said he thinks officers reinjured a previous back wound.
Bystanders in the vicinity recorded the interaction from across the street, which from another angle spans 11 minutes and shows two officers approaching Owensby about the tint level of his windows and a child in the backseat without a car seat.
Owensby shares with the officer that he cannot leave the vehicle due to being paraplegic, to which the officer insists he can assist him out of the car.
Owensby refuses and asks the officer to notify his superior.
The officer escalates the situation by forcibly removing him by his locs. The Dayton police department released a statement following the incident, saying they are “committed to transparency,” and that the professional standards bureau would be conducting an investigation.
“The investigation will include the review of any policies and training when encountering these situations. Detectives from the Professional Standards Bureau have already interviewed the driver in the video,” the statement read. “We ask the public to please be patient while all of the facts are gathered so we may have a clear understanding of what occurred and why in order to make informed decisions and continue to improve services,” the statement continued.
The police later said they recovered $22,450 from the vehicle and that the department is conducting an investigation into where the money came from.