Winnipeg Police were facing outrage on social media on Thursday, June 11, 2020, after a blurry video showing an officer kicking a suspect surfaced on social media.
The video showed the arrest of a male who was allegedly involved in an incident where property was damaged and he was seen with a firearm.
In a media briefing on Friday, June 12, 2020, police said that in the video that was posted on social media many details and context involving the arrest were lost.
WPS public information officer Jay Murray showed a high-quality video of the arrest and the moments leading up to it taken from two surveillance cameras in the area.
“It’s a tough video to watch and shows the use of force by our officers,” said Murray.
In the surveillance video provided by police you can clearly see the man throw a handgun onto the roadway and continue to walk away from officers. As the man is being arrested a knife can also be seen seconds before an officer kicks the shoulder of the suspect twice.
In a side by side comparison of the videos you can barely see the knife due to the extremely bad quality of the social media video but you can hear an officer shout “Knife, Knife, Knife”. In the surveillance video, roughly from the same angle, the knife is clearly seen. (Editors Note: the surveillance video did not contain sound. It was added for clarity in the comparison)
The knife is kicked away by one of the officers.
Moments later a taser is deployed into the suspect’s back giving officers the ability to handcuff the suspect and then reposition his body on to his side in a safe position.
“If officers didn’t do what they did and that individual gets a hold of that knife, we’re in a situation where lethal force maybe justified,” said Murray. “We don’t want this to become a lethal force encounter, we don’t want this individual to get a hold of that knife with their hand and we’re going to do whatever it takes to safely take this person into custody.”
The male in the video was not injured and admitted to police that he had consumed a large quantity of Meth.
The handgun turned out to be an airsoft replica.
© News4.ca 2020
