Fort Smith police release body camera video from teen’s arrest

By CNN Newsource

Published June 25, 2021 12:12 PM

By Brett Rains

FORT SMITH, Arkansas (KHBS, KHOG) — Fort Smith police released a 14-minute video showing body camera video. The video was taken after 6 p.m. June 21.

If you want to see the entire video released you can see it on Fort Smith Police’s facebook page. It does include language but minors’ faces have been blurred.

A mall security guard told police he was threatened when he told the group to leave.

The guard said a juvenile told him: “I am going to get my gun and come back to kill all you.”

The video shows Officer Garrett Ford and Detective Andre Arnoldi taking the juvenile to the ground after police said he resisted arrest.

An officer was seen placing his knee on the juvenile’s back.

Police said in a release that the technique was “a common technique for subduing resisting or aggressive people.”

40/29 News has witnessed the video, the officer appears to have had his knee on the juvenile’s back for less than 20 seconds.

Body camera video also shows another juvenile being arrested. Police said he interfered with arrest.

Fort Smith Police Lt. Don Cobb said the officer’s use of force is under investigation.

“We investigate every use of force. I mean anytime that an officer potentially puts himself in danger or put somebody else in danger, because I have to take you to the ground or I have to wrestle around with you or whatever, then we initiate use of force,” Lt. Cobb said. “We have special software that we use to report that. It gets forwarded through the chain of command eventually to the Office of Professional Standards and they conduct an investigation.”

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