Another man claims Mesa police used excessive force in 2017 arrest

A 30-year-old black man said at a news conference Wednesday that Mesa police officers used excessive force and called him the N-word during an incident last fall.

A Mesa police spokesman said the situation was just brought to his attention Wednesday, but he questioned whether it was an officer using the racial slur after initially watching the video.

"That did not sound like one of our officers," police spokesman Nikolas Rasheta said. "It sounded like that was the suspect."

Terence Kirkpatrick said the incident began when he and his roommate called to report a break-in at their apartment. It ended in a struggle between police and Kirkpatrick when they arrested him on unrelated outstanding warrants.

RELATED: Mesa police release body cam footage of officers throwing punches at man

Kirkpatrick came forward Wednesday, a day after Mesa police faced criticism over another incident where video shows officers punching a man after responding to a domestic disturbance call. Kirkpatrick's is the latest claim of excessive force by Mesa police.

Kirkpatrick, at the news conference, said officers "grabbed me from the couch while I was still laying down and instantly started yelling 'stop resisting' while they was punching me in my ribs."

What the video shows

The video shows police finish their initial investigation and then notify Kirkpatrick, who is lying on a couch, that he has two warrants for his arrest.

"Stand up, you have two warrants for your arrest," an officer tells Kirkpatrick in the video.

Kirkpatrick continues to lay on the couch. Two officers repeat commands, "I'm not going to ask you again, stand up."

The officers then reach for Kirkpatrick, who is quickly positioned on the floor, where there is a struggle.

"Terrance please calm down," his roommate is heard saying.

The video shows officers struggling to put handcuffs on Kirkpatrick as one yells, "Give us your f--king hands right now, give us your hands."

The officers say "stop resisting" multiple times, and Kirkpatrick's roommate responds, "He's not resisting."

An officer says, "When he tenses up and does not comply, it's resisting."

When officers manage to execute the arrest, one officer says, "You just got yourself a felony, good job."

After they take Kirkpatrick outside, the video shows him up against a police vehicle and the N-word is heard being yelled. It's unclear who says it.

Jarret Maupin, an activist who frequently publicizes cases of alleged police misconduct, provided the police body-camera footage of the incident involving Kirkpatrick to The Arizona Republic.

Maupin said the incident is premised on Kirkpatrick's race, and he is seeking an outside investigation into the Mesa Police Department.

One of Kirkpatrick’s warrants was for failure to appear on a charge of driving on a suspended license and the other was from another agency, Rasheta, the police spokesman, said.

READ MORE: