Police attempted to use taser on Ahmaud Arbery during a 2017 incident
(CNN) — Police in Glynn County, Georgia, attempted to use a Taser on Ahmaud Arbery during an incident in 2017, according to a police report and police body camera video obtained by The Guardian.
According to a police report from that incident, an officer was patrolling Townsend Park on November 7, 2017, when he noticed a vehicle parked in an area “known for drugs and other criminal activity.”
Attorneys for his family confirmed to CNN that this is indeed Arbery in the video.
In the body camera video, the officer checks Arbery to see if he has any weapons on him.
Arbery begins to argue with the officer, who wants to search his vehicle as well.
Another officer arrives on the scene a short time later and instructs Arbery to take his hand out of his pockets. The officer then deploys his Taser, which does not work, and orders Arbery to the ground.
Arbery, 25, was jogging in a neighborhood outside Brunswick on February 23 when a former police officer and his son chased him, authorities said. They stopped a truck in his path, and during a confrontation, Arbery was shot and killed.
The men, Gregory and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with aggravated assault and murder more than two months later.
In a statement to CNN, S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump and L. Chris Stewart, attorneys for the family of Arbery said, “The video released today regarding an incident involving Ahmaud Arbery from 2017 clearly depicts a situation where Ahmaud was harassed by Glynn County police officers. This type of behavior by the department is well-documented.”
“Initially, Mr. Arbery is rightfully upset by what he perceives as being approached for no legitimate reason,” attorneys for Arbery’s family said in the statement. “The officer acknowledges that he hasn’t done anything wrong. Ahmaud Arbery maintains his composure, however, even when the second officer to arrive on the scene immediately escalates the situation, pulls out his Taser and attempts to use it on Mr. Arbery for no justifiable reason. Ahmaud was not arrested or charged with any crime.”
“This appears to be just a glimpse into the kind of scrutiny Ahmaud Arbery faced not only by this police department, but ultimately regular citizens like the McMichaels and their posse, pretending to be police officers,” Merritt, Crump and Stewart told CNN.
CNN has reached out to Glynn County police for the video and police report.