Late Thursday night, the Rainbow City, Alabama Police stopped a male suspect who refused to cooperate. He eventually fled across rough terrain and injured himself in a fall, but officers still had to tase him to force compliance. Sometime later, a Facebook user claimed the officers had beaten the man and thrown him off a bridge. These claims went somewhat viral from the Facebook post shown below.
In response to the accusations of brutality, the Rainbow City P.D. released a YouTube video of an officer’s body cam footage, completely destroying these outlandish claims. As the video below shows, the officers kindly reassured the suspect throughout the ordeal that medical assistance was on the way, doing their best to keep him calm.
The Rainbow City PD also posted the following on their Facebook page.
In response to the “Social Media Craze” and false allegations that Rainbow City Police Officers would mistreat any citizen (Law abiding or Suspect) I have uploaded this video to discredit the horrendous allegations that on July 13, 2017 that Rainbow City Police threw anyone from a bridge on Black Creek Parkway or in any way did anything other than carry out our duties to the extent of rendering what aid we could to a fleeing suspect. In this video, you will clearly see a man flee from police after learning that we had found out his true identity and discovered that he had Felony Warrants for Probation Revocation for Dangerous Drugs and other misdemeanor traffic violations. Prior to confronting this subject, he had stated that, “He had never obtained an Alabama Driver’s License and did not know his Social Security Number.” He gave officers a false name and then recanted the fact he had no driver’s license and gave police another person’s driver’s license that he found within the vehicle. After the other occupant of the vehicle help reveal his identity, you can clearly see him run across two lanes of traffic and leap over a concrete bridge barrier, falling approximately 19 feet to the ground. The subject next pulled his pants off and ran along the river bank, as well as he could after succumbing from injuries from his self in the fall refusing to stop or show his hands in a very dark wooded area until the officer had to result in deploying a taser to get him to cooperate. Next you will notice that not only did police NOT throw him from the bridge that the police actually rendered him aid as well as they could until medics arrived. Just because it’s on Facebook does not mean it is true. We regret that this subject had self-inflicted injuries, as it’s our intention to protect all lives and be concerned with all the community’s safety as a whole. Jonathon W. Horton, Chief of Police, Rainbow City Police Dept. *Note other images are the 19 feet measurement and a look at the depth that the suspect plunged over on his own. Pictures in comment
The complete YouTube video of the body cam footage is posted below.
