LAPD releases video of officer punching handcuffed man in Watts

The Los Angeles Police Department released body cam video footage Thursday that showed an officer punching a handcuffed man during a confrontation over double parking in Watts on Sunday, just as another controversial use-of-force incident emerged.

The video was released as officials grappled with another episode that occurred hours later on Sunday in South L.A. in which an LAPD officer was captured on video using an apparent chokehold while trying to restrain a 17-year-old boy during an arrest. Both incidents are under investigation.

In the Watts case, video of the incident was originally captured on cellphone by a bystander. Brad Gage, an attorney for Alexander Donta Mitchell, 28, the man who says he was punched, said the officer’s actions left his client with a broken nose and jaw pain.

The 56-minute police body cam video shows two officers approaching Mitchell’s silver Dodge Charger that is doubled parked and facing the wrong way near the corner of 113th Street and Graham Avenue.

An officer uses a flashlight to look into the tinted windows of the driver side of the vehicle. A second officer stands by the front passenger-side door.

Mitchell is later seen rolling down his windows, asking the officer next to him what the problem was. The officer tells him he’s double parked and facing the wrong way before opening the driver’s door.

Mitchell then tells the officer he’s not on probation or parole and begins questioning why the officer opened his door.

“Because you’re ignoring me,” the officer says.

“I didn’t ignore you,” Mitchell says.

The officer then asks Mitchell to step out of the vehicle, which he does. But things become hostile when the officer says he needs to pat Mitchell down.

“For what, though?” Mitchell repeatedly asks the officer.

“For weapons,” the officer tells him.

“I don’t have anything on me.”

At that point, the two officers grab Mitchell’s arm and place it behind his back as they attempt to handcuff him.

“Get your hands off me,” he tells them. “I ain’t got nothing, I can sit in the car. I ain’t on no probation or parole .... I know my rights.”

Nearly five minutes into the video, the officers repeatedly tell Mitchell to put his arms behind his back. The officers also instruct a crowd that has gathered to stand back. At that point, the crowd can be heard reacting to an officer’s punch, with at least one bystander saying she got it on video.

The video also captures moments when Mitchell is telling officers he’s having trouble breathing before Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived at the scene.

Gage said the body camera video “demonstrates further why the police officer was not justified in handcuffing or striking Alex.” He said his client was simply on the phone while sitting inside his car.

“There is no reason to arrest someone for double parking,” Gage said. “The officer opened the door for no reason. The whole thing could have been avoided if they asked him to move the car.”

Gage said the video did not capture other “punches that aren’t shown.”

Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of obstruction and resisting arrest and was later released with a misdemeanor citation.

Ed Obayashi, a law enforcement use-of-force expert, lawyer and deputy in Modoc County, said after viewing the video that the incident was easily avoidable, given that Mitchell was simply sitting in his vehicle double parked. But he said the officer decided to take a more aggressive approach.

“The opening of the car door set it off; it escalated from that point on,” he said. “There is resistance and there is resistance. [Mitchell] isn’t fighting here.”

Meanwhile, in the second incident in South L.A., video also shot by a bystander shows an officer with his arms wrapped around a shirtless teen’s head while rolling on the ground, police said in a news release.

The incident occurred about 10:30 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of 70th and Main streets when officers saw people smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol next to a number of double-parked vehicles.

The officers said they saw the teen appear to place an unknown object under the front passenger seat of the vehicle he was in and then run away. After a foot pursuit, “a noncategorical use of force occurred,” police said.

The officers struggled with the teen and at one point shocked him with a stun device, which was ineffective, according to the news release.

Additional officers arrived on the scene and the subject was arrested, the release said.

The teen was booked at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall on suspicion of resisting a police officer, according to the department.

It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney. Two officers who were present were taken to the hospital with cuts to their hands, faces and knees, the news release said.