Austin, TX – Police critics went nuts over an arrest video that was posted on Facebook and Twitter on the 4th of July, and now the Austin police have spoken up and explained what happened before a bystander started filming (video below).
“Last night I was out with some friends in Austin and witnessed police brutality first hand for the first time. It’s a different feeling when you see it on tv or all over the internet than when you actually witness it happening no less than 10 feet in front of you. @Austin_Police,” Patrick King wrote.
But it turned out that what King had witnessed what nothing like what he described because he hadn’t seen any of what led up to the arrests.
Police told KVUE that the incident began at about 1:30 a.m. when police responded to Rain, a club located at 214 West Sixth Street, for a call of a disturbance involving a shirtless man with a knife who wanted to enter the club.
The club’s manager told police that he had been threatened by 23-year-old Justin Grant, after he’d refused him entry because he was too intoxicated, KVUE reported.
He said Grant grabbed him by the arm tightly, pulled him in close to his face and told the manager to let him into the bar or something bad would happen. The affidavit said Grant reportedly motioned toward a knife worn on his waistband, according to KVUE.
Grant left the club before officers arrived; however, a disturbance broke out at the bar next door while the officers were interviewing Rain’s manager, and it turned out to be the same guy.
Police said that when they initially approached Grant, the shirtless man was having an altercation with a woman named Alexandria Green.
Grant was pointing at Green "directly in her face, appearing to be in some sort of disturbance," the affidavit said.
When police went to take Grant into custody, he resisted.
Police said Green told the officers “he didn’t do anything,” and then tried to intervene by pulling on one officer’s body armor, KVUE reported.
The officer said he had to forcibly push Green off him, and Rain bar staff also helped to restrain her. That’s when the bystander started filming his video.
Police struggled with Grant on the ground, as he refused commands to lay on his stomach and put his hands behind his back, the video showed. One officer punched Grant several times in an attempt to gain compliance so he could be handcuffed.
Police told KVUE that Grant had been reaching for his waistband as they tried to handcuff him. The affidavit said Grant "began to attempt to pull his arms downwards towards his waistband, which seemed to (the officer) that he was making an attempt to grab his knife."
As Grant resisted, the video showed Green continued to try and jump into the fray on his behalf.
Eventually, police were able to subdue and handcuff Grant, the video showed.
When they flipped him over, they saw the knife the bar manager had described, tucked into his waistband. Police said the knife was about six inches long, according to KVUE.
Police also found a baggie of methamphetamine inside Grant’s wallet, KVUE reported.
When police had Grant in handcuffs, the video showed that the officer Green had been badgering during the scuffle turned and placed the woman under arrest, too. She resisted arrest but was eventually subdued.
Green has been charged with interference with public duties, KVUE reported.
Online records showed that Grant has been charged with terroristic threats, possession of a controlled substance, and resisting arrest. He was being held in jail on a $16,000 bond.
You can see the part of the arrest that went viral on social media here below:
