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Four Georgia police officers are facing a lawsuit from an unarmed black man who was slammed face-first to the ground and arrested in a case of mistaken identity.
One of four existing body camera videos of the incident released by the Valdosta police department does not clearly show the events that unfolded on Feb. 8 because the officer who initially grabbed 46-year-old Antonio Arnelo Smith from behind was pressed up behind Smith, blocking the camera's view.
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In this still image from body camera video released by the Valdosta police, Antonio Arnelo Smith is slammed face-first to the ground by a Valdosta police sergeant, in Valdosta, Ga., on Feb. 8, 2020. (Valdosta Police via AP)
Footage from another angle later turned over to Smith's attorney show Smith handing his driver's license to a black police officer and answering questions cooperatively before a white officer, identified in the lawsuit as Sgt. Billy Wheeler, walks up behind him, grabs him by his right wrist and pins both of his arms to his sides in a bear hug before taking him down to the ground.
“Oh my God, you broke my wrist!” Smith screams at Wheeler as two more white Valdosta officers arrive, holding him down and handcuffing him following the takedown.
Smith cries out in pain that his wrist is broken, and Wheeler says: “Yeah, he might be broke.” The officers remove the handcuffs within about a minute and call for an ambulance. Still on the ground, Smith asks why he's being arrested.
“We have a warrant for your arrest,” one officer tells Smith.
The officer who first stopped Smith, identified in court records as Dominic Henry, realizes the mistake and corrects the other officers.
“Hey, this was another guy," Henry says. "The guy with the warrant’s over there. No, there’s two different people.”
Valdosta police said in a statement that officers were responding to reports of an African American man dressed in a brown hoodie and blue pants who was harassing customers outside of a Walgreens, screaming loudly and asking customers for money.
In this still image from body camera video released by the Valdosta police, Smith, center, recovers after being slammed face-first to the ground by a Valdosta police sergeant. (Valdosta Police via AP)
The statement by the department contradicts camera footage, as police claim Wheeler told Smith to “place his hands behind his back.”
The department said Smith “began to resist by pulling his arms forward and tensing his body,” prompting Wheeler to take him to the ground, but video footage shows Wheeler silently grabbing Smith from behind and telling him to put his hands behind his back only after Smith's arms are already pinned down.
Smith fled the scene after he was released from police custody without lingering for medical attention from EMT workers.
Smith's lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeks unspecified monetary damages but he says he wants to see changes within the police department. In a letter sent to Valdosta officials seeking a settlement before the lawsuit was filed, Smith's attorneys asked for $700,000.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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