Authorities are now investigating an arrest that took place during SxSW. A cop was caught on footage by the Peaceful Streets Project, pepper spraying a handcuffed man. In the video, you can hear the cop ask “What did I tell you about kicking the door?” as he sprayed the man who sat in the back of a wagon.
The department says the officer should not have used pepper spray if the “subject is under physical restraint unless the subject is still aggressively resisting and lesser means of controlling the subject have failed.” The released a stament saying,
“The Austin Police Department is aware of the incident captured on video and has launched an internal investigation. We see these cops violating policy and committing crimes all the time, but usually there is some gray area that they like to dance (in).” Peaceful Streets founder Antonio Bueller says, ”
This was just crystal clear, there is no way by law or policy that what this guy did was acceptable. There is zero gray area.”
He went on to say this was just one of many incidents that went on at SxSW. You can check out more footages of cops abusing their power at the festival below.
Source: Complex
