A Sacramento police officer has been relieved of his duties after cell phone video appeared to capture him tackling and beating a jaywalker, authorities said.In the video, a young black man and the white officer seem to be exchanging words in the middle of a suburban street.
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Then the unidentified officer appears to lunge at the man, throwing him to the asphalt, where he straddles him and beats him in the face.
A neighbor videotaped the altercation with her cell phone, and her screams and sobs can be heard on the footage.
"Why you doing him like that!?” yells Naomi Montaie, who posted her video to Facebook, where it quickly went viral. "Why you beating him like that? Oh, Jesus. I seen this, Lord."
She identified the man as Nandi Cain Jr., a resident of her apartment complex.
He was stopped for illegally crossing the street, authorities said.
Police Department issued a statement Tuesday saying the officer had been placed on paid leave, pending an internal investigation." data-reactid="27">The Sacramento Police Department issued a statement Tuesday saying the officer had been placed on paid leave, pending an internal investigation.
“The videos of this incident portray actions and behavior that we would consider unacceptable conduct by a Sacramento police officer," the statement said.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg also weighed in, calling the cop’s actions "extremely disturbing" and "not representative of the training [or] the expectations we have for our Police Department."
Investigators have asked additional witnesses to come forward.
