Metro’s police chief is conducting a “formal review” of two officers’ actions after a video surfaced of a man in a wheelchair injuring his head in a skirmish as the officers arrested him last week.
Chief Michael Taborn “indicated he has some concerns about what he saw in the video,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said Monday.
Metro has been saying the man was injured when he fell from his wheelchair while resisting arrest. But the video, posted on YouTube, appears to show the officers tackling the man in his wheelchair and pushing him to the ground.
The incident occurred Thursday on U Street, near the Green/Yellow line station. The officers were on a routine patrol of the area when they saw the man in a wheelchair drinking alcohol on the outdoor sidewalk, Stessel said. They asked him to leave but he refused, Stessel said.
They attempted to issue a citation for public drinking but he refused again, he said. They told him he would be placed under arrest, but Stessel said the man resisted arrest “which resulted in a fall.”
But the video appears to show the officers tackling the man. All three end up on the ground. The man then lies handcuffed facedown on the sidewalk, head bleeding, as passersby question the police’s actions.
The man was taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries, Stessel said. He was charged with assaulting a police officer and drinking in public, he said.
Stessel said the video captures only part of what happened. “We don’t know what preceded the video,” he said.
The investigation is expected to take seven to 10 days. The officers will remain on duty during that time, Stessel said.
