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US mayor apologizes after violent arrest videos emerge
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The mayor of Phoenix apologized on
Sunday after videos emerged showing police in the southwestern US city
violently arresting a family with young children.
The videos, shot when the arrest happened last month, show police using
foul language while shouting at the family to get out of their car, and
threatening to shoot them.
A woman later emerges from the vehicle with two young children. She hands
them over to a bystander before being arrested.
Separately, an officer is shown kicking the legs of another man who he is
handcuffing against a police car.
“I, like many others, am sick over what I have seen in the video depicting
Phoenix police interacting with a family and young children,” Mayor Kate
Gallego wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
Calling the officers’ actions “inappropriate” and “clearly unprofessional,”
she wrote “There is no situation in which this behavior is ever close to
acceptable.”
“I am deeply sorry for what this family went through, and I apologize to
our community,” she said.
In an appearance on the local ABC affiliate, Phoenix police chief Jeri
Williams said the officers had responded to a report of shoplifting when they
encountered the family.
“I’m sorry this incident happened,” she said, adding that it was being
investigated.
ABC reported that the family has filed a $10 million claim against the
city, alleging civil rights violations.
The incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of law enforcement in the
public in the United States following a series of high-profile killings of
African Americans.
In response, departments across the country have announced reforms such as
requiring officers to wear body cameras, which Gallego said Phoenix would
speed up in the wake of the controversy.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0959 hrs