GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) — Greeley police are under the microscope after a video made the rounds on social media showing an officer repeatedly punching a suspect during an arrest.
People online were upset about how police handled the situation, but Greeley police released body camera video of the incident Monday that showed more.
George Trevino and his girlfriend Amanda Anderson were originally pulled over for a tinted plate cover, but police soon found out Trevino had a warrant out for his arrest.
“Everything was just supposed to go normally, but it just didn’t go normal at all,” said Anderson, who was in the front seat of the car.
At the start of the body camera video, you see the officer approaching the vehicle and telling Trevino why he was pulled over. The officer then asks Trevino to exit the car and tells him he’s under arrest.
That’s when things escalate. As Greeley police claimed, Trevino was resisting arrest.
The civilian video picks up when things are already heated and shows the officer punching Trevino.
About 45 seconds after he got out of the car, you see Trevino reach for the Taser and disarm the officer. Anderson feels Trevino only grabbed the Taser as a reaction to being stunned in the first place.
The officers warned Trevino to stop resisting, but from all angles, you can see an officer repeatedly punching Trevino to get him to release the Taser as he’s on the ground. Backup arrives, and Trevino eventually throws the Taser to the side.
But those punches are what his loved ones said are out of line.
“That’s what got me riled up and I started screaming, like, quit hitting him. Like, why are you hitting him? It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Anderson said. “I was begging, screaming for them to stop hitting him. There was no reason to hit him.”
Trevino was arrested on charges of disarming an officer and resisting arrest, as well as the original charges from the warrant.
Anderson said Trevino has a broken thumb, cracked rib and bruising to his face. She feels those charges aren’t valid and said more needs to be done.
“How would they like it if one of their loved ones [was who] this happened to? They wouldn’t,” she said. “So, I hope something is done about it.”
Greeley police said anytime force is used on the job, a supervisor completes a review of the incident to determine if the officer’s actions were reasonable. That formal review is in progress.