Five police officers were justified in beating an unarmed 35-year-old man in Mesa, Arizona, until he was nearly unconscious, the Scottsdale Police Department said in a report released Monday.
The report from a criminal investigation comes three months after the officers were caught on security camera footage punching, kneeing, and pulling Robert Johnson to the ground in the hallways of a Mesa apartment complex, on May 23.
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“Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the evidence in this case, our final determination is that no criminal charges are warranted against the involved officers as the use of force was legally authorized and justified under Arizona State Law,” a Scottsdale police statement says.
The Mesa PD officers responded to the complex after a woman called saying her ex-boyfriend was attempting to break into her home. When police arrived, they found the ex-boyfriend, 20-year-old Erick Reyes, and Johnson, who said he lived in the building, in the hallway of the woman’s apartment. Mesa police officers said Johnson resisted arrest and did not comply with their commands.
One of the officers is heard telling Johnson to sit on the floor, and another officer repeats the instruction to him, according to body camera footage. Johnson leaned back on the wall but didn’t go all the way down to the ground. That’s when the surveillance video, which was released in June, shows all five officers surrounding him and punching him to the ground. One officer can be heard saying, “See what happens. See what happens.”
“Johnson’s body language was projecting he was preparing for a physical altercation,” one of the officers wrote in the report. “It appeared Johnson was trying not to sit down in order to retain a position of physical advantage by remaining on his feet.”
Johnson was arrested and held on charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly kicking his friend’s ex-girlfriend’s apartment door and refusing to sit when the officers told him to. Charges were dropped in June, KNXV reported.
The officers were placed on leave while the Mesa Police Department asked the Scottsdale Police Department to conduct an independent criminal investigation of its officers. The department reviewed eight body cameras, along with the security footage, and found that the officers were justified in their actions. The officials added that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office agreed with their findings. The officers will remain on leave until the Mesa Police Department concludes its own internal investigation, according to ABC 15. The Mesa Police Department declined further comment to VICE News.
“Violence is ugly, it looks terrible, no matter what,” said Sgt. Nate Gafvert, President of the Mesa Police Association, told ABC 15. “Mr. Johnson was giving several indicators that he was going to resist arrest, that he was being verbally abusive to the officers. It was pretty clear that there should absolutely be no files charged on these officers.”
But Johnson’s attorney, Benjamin Taylor, says that the investigation came to the wrong conclusion.
“The video flatly contradicts the self-serving accounts of the police officers involved,” Taylor said. “The use of government violence against cooperating citizens, who have committed no crime and who pose no threat, is a crime without justification or legal authorization.”
He added that they will continue to seek justice, this time, before a civil jury.
