A 22-year-old black man was mistakenly handcuffed and arrested after he was struck by a fleeing car during a police chase in St. Ann, Mo., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Friday.
St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez told the Post-Dispatch that he was sorry for the mistake; however, he maintained that his officers wouldn’t be disciplined because it was an honest one.
Joseph Swink’s car was reportedly struck by a car that St. Ann police officers were chasing on Thursday and spun out before crashing. Officers mistook Swink for the man they’d been pursuing and tackled him to the ground before handcuffing and arresting him, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Swink told the newspaper that he wanted the offending officers to lose their jobs for their mistake.
Swink’s face was covered in cuts and bruises, which the paper said occurred during the incident. Swink wouldn’t tell the paper how he received the injuries.
However, in an interview with television station KMOV, Swink said he didn’t want to give the police an excuse to use more force.
“I didn’t want to do anything that could make them have a reaction to try to, you know, justify anything that they can do further on their end,” Swink told KMOV.
Jimenez said Swink was injured by his airbag during the crash but conceded that the arrest might have aggravated any existing abrasions to Swink’s face, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Watch video of the police chief’s apology and explanation below, courtesy of KMOV:
This is shit straight out of a Chris Rock comedy… except it’s real life and thus tragic.
Thank god there’s nothing on camera!!! Amirite???
Dude failed to dodge the fleeing suspect, but he certainly dodged a bullet…literally.
If the first assumption being made is that he obtained the injuries from the police kneeling on his face and rubbing his head into the asphalt while he was prone and being handcuffed…
…your police force might just be rednecks.
So; what will it take for these bastards to admit they beat the shit out of the wrong guy?
Newsflash: they wouldn’t have admitted it even if it was the “right guy.” There is no “right guy” for them to be beating the shit out of.
The handcuffs are the biggest part of the deal here.