Police under fire for grabbing baby from suspect in viral video
Police say a Facebook video of officers trying to forcibly remove a screaming baby from his father’s arms has been “selectively edited.”
On Sunday, a witness re-posted a two-minute video to Facebook showing a man resisting two deputies from the St. Louis County Police Department in Clayton, Missouri. In the footage, an officer is seen grabbing the arm of a man, wearing denim shorts, a black T-shirt and a red cap. The man is also carrying a baby.
The video, which was seemingly edited in several places, cuts to another officer holding a taser gun, who also tries to restrain the father.
A witness outside commands the officer to release the man. “He’s got his son with him, bro,” he says. The father’s hat falls off his head as he is forced to the grass. “Get off of that baby!” a woman is heard screaming in the video.
As rage grew on social media, the police department posted developments on Facebook, writing, “We want to address a video that was brought to our attention on yesterday....It is selectively edited and depicts only portions of what occurred.”
The post details that earlier that day, a 28-year-old woman had called the police to report that her baby’s father had assaulted her, damaged her possessions and took off with their child. When officers found the father at a bus stop with the baby, they tried to detain him for an investigation, but he held the baby between himself and the deputies.
A back-up officer (presumably holding the taser gun in the video) told the man to stop resisting but he wouldn’t listen. “The officers used the least amount of force possible to compel the suspect to comply,” reads the post.
The father was charged with Domestic Assault, Property Damage, Resisting Arrest, and “numerous” outstanding warrants. Afterward, the child was examined by paramedics and returned to its mother.
“We want the community to be aware that our department investigates incidents in their entirety and does not limit that investigation to what parts may or may not have been video recorded...” states the Facebook post.
The St. Louis County Police Department tells Yahoo Lifestyle that no further information about the incident is available during an open investigation. An earlier version of the Facebook post reportedly noted that the video is “uncomfortable to watch.”
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