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Update, 5:30 p.m. Sunday: Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O'Donohue tells Deadline Detroit that the arrest of the unidentified man "looks sloppy, there is no question about that." But he said it doesn't look as if officers were being malicious or intentionally trying to harm him.
He said an internal investigation is underway.
He say the man faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. A second person was arrested for interfering with the arrest.
He said the man was booked at the station and treated there by the fire department for a cut on the forehead. He was released and taken to Beaumont Hospital. The chief said he has yet to be arraigned on the charges, so his name was not being released.
Attempts to reach the man as of late Sunday afternoon had been unsuccessful.
Original article, Sunday afternoon:
A video posted on social media showing Royal Oak cops detaining a man on St. Patrick's Day, then jumping on him and pinning him to the ground, is triggering claims of excessive force.
Police have launched an investigation, Mayor James Ellison tells Deadline Detroit on Sunday, urging people to should withhold judgment until the inquiry is completed early next week.
He said the video only shows a snippet of what happened and "not what happened before and what happened after." He declined to comment on specifics, but said he believed the man and another person were arrested during the confrontation.
He said there had been some problems in downtown Royal Oak that evening and a group of police officers were already in the area when the incident happened.
Steven Ba posts the video on his Facebook page with this comment:
A good friend of mine went to Royal oak to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and then was met by the pigs with badges. He did not resist at all! And this is the way they treated him! I'm guessing it's because he's Chaldean!
The video, shared nearly 2,500 times by Monday afternoon, does not appear to show the man resisting when he's taken down to the ground. As police wrestle the man to the ground, a bystander yells: "He's not doing anything."
Ba did not return two private messages Sunday on Facebook from Deadline Detroit asking for the name and contact number for the the man in the video.
Danijela Camaj comments on Facebook:
Shit like this makes me so angry! Shame on #royaloakpolice!!!! What bullies.
