Newly resurfaced police footage showed that officers attempted to tase Ahmaud Arbery during an incident in 2017.
Arbery, an unarmed black man, was fatally shot in February while jogging after two white men, who claimed they thought he was a robbery suspect and have since been charged with murder, confronted him. As part of a broader effort to highlight police harassment of Arbery, attorneys representing his family pointed to an incident in 2017 when he was removed from his car by threat of Taser.
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According to police records released following a public records request, Glynn County officer Michael Kanago said he confronted Arbery while he was sitting alone in his car near a park because the park was commonly used to sell drugs. Arbery, who said he was decompressing after work, became upset with the officer and refused to let Kanago search his vehicle.
“You’re bothering me for nothing,” Arbery said to Kanago, later adding, “I’m in a f—ing park. I work.”
Kanago then called for backup from officer David Haney. Kanago said he was fearful because Arbery’s “veins were popping from his chest, which made me feel that he was becoming enraged and may turn physically violent towards me.”
When Haney arrived, he ordered Arbery to get out of the car and onto the ground. According to the report, Haney tried to tase Arbery as he exited his vehicle, but his Taser misfired. Kanago searched Arbery for weapons and found none. Arbery was found to have a suspended license but was allowed to leave the scene on foot.
Body camera footage recorded Arbery explaining his frustration with the officers.
“I get one day off a week … I’m up early in the morning trying to chill,” he said. “I’m just so aggravated because I work hard, six days a week.”
Attorneys for Arbery’s family said that the incident highlights “a situation where Ahmaud was harassed by Glynn County police officers.” They argued that the officers had “no justifiable reason” to attempt to tase Arbery.
“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,” the attorneys told the Guardian.
Arbery died in February, but Gregory and Travis McMichael, the two men charged in connection to his death, were not arrested until May because they claimed they acted in self-defense while attempting to make a citizen’s arrest. Gregory McMichael is a former police officer who lost his power to arrest last year after skipping a use-of-force training. He and his son’s arrests came after footage of their confrontation with Arbery went viral.
