Footage of a violent arrest in Ocean City, Maryland is going viral showing police officers exerting force against a group of Black teenagers on the boardwalk.
CBS Baltimore reports the incident occurred on Saturday (June 12) around 8:30 p.m. local time. The teens were initially approached by police for alleged violations of a local ordinance that prohibits smoking and vaping on the boardwalk. Officers approached the group again to address the violation after observing a man in the group begin vaping again as they walked away.
One video shared on Twitter showed a man with his hands up as a group of officers stands in front of him. The officers can be heard ordering him to the ground. The man appears to lower one hand to unhook a strap of his backpack when an officer deploys a Taser. The man yells and collapses to the ground as witnesses scream.
Another video, broadcasted by CBS, appears to show a large presence of officers setting up a perimeter on the boardwalk while making multiple arrests. A group of officers can be seen holding a man on the ground when one officer drives his knee into the man multiple times.
According to the Washington Post, police said 19-year-old Brian Everett Anderson did not provide identification and became “disorderly.” When they moved to arrest him, Anderson resisted. He has been charged with disorderly conduct, resistance and interference with arrest, second-degree assault and failure to provide proof of identity.
During the incident, authorities claim 19-year-old Kamere Anthony Day allegedly yelled profanities at officers. Day was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing and hindering, failure to obey a reasonable and lawful order, resistance and interference with arrest and second-degree assault.
Meanwhile, police say 18-year-old Jahtique Joseph John Lewis pushed a public safety aide in the chest, before picking up an officer’s bicycle and attempting to hit a public safety aide with it. Lewis has been charged with disorderly conduct, failure to obey a reasonable and lawful order, obstructing and hindering, second-degree assault and resistance and interference with arrest.
A fourth man, 19-year-old Khalil Dwayne Warren, was also arrested after police found him standing on private property next to two “no trespassing” signs, police said. Warren was asked to exit the property but became disorderly, and he resisted arrest as officers tried to take him into custody, police said.