Four Arizona police officers are on leave after video shows man being punched in the face

Uriel J. Garcia | The Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption Mesa, AZ police officers on leave after beating man Four police officers are on administrative leave after the Mesa police department released a video showing them repeatedly punching and kneeing 33-year-old Robert Johnson.

PHOENIX — The Mesa Police Department released a video Tuesday showing a police officer repeatedly punching and kneeing a man before he is pulled to the ground while other officers surround him.

At one point, the 15-minute video shows, a different officer shoves the man's head into an elevator door after other officers handcuffed him and zip-tied his feet,

Mesa Police Chief Ramon Batista said Tuesday the man didn't follow officers' orders to sit down but that the use of force didn't appear to be necessary based on his initial review of the footage.

The matter is being investigated, he said. Four officers, who have not been identified, are on leave pending the investigation results, the chief said.

"I don't feel that our officers were at their best," Batista said. "I don't feel this situation needed to go the way that it went."

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Mesa police identified the beaten man as 33-year-old Robert Johnson, who was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and hindering after the May 23 incident. Mesa police also arrested Erick Reyes, 20, who was with Johnson the night of the incident, on suspicion of disorderly conduct and suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Mesa police chief talks about video of officers punching man Mesa Police Chief Ramon Batista talks about surveillance video showing officers punching man in face.

The video's release comes as the Mesa Police Department has been scrutinized for officers' use of force in other incidents. Unlike other cases, in which pictures or details of Mesa police officers' use of force has been released by third parties, the police chief released this video, which lacks audio. Police body-camera video footage hasn't been released.

Batista said he wanted to release the video to the public before it surfaced online and to provide context to the incident.

"The images of the video are powerful and I thought it was paramount that you hear it from me with respect to how I feel about it and what I'm going to do to ensure this doesn't happen again," he said in an interview with The Arizona Republic.

Andre Miller, a pastor at New Beginnings Christian Church in Mesa, and attorneys Benjamin Taylor and Joel Robbins, who are representing Johnson, criticized the officers' treatment of their client in a statement issued Tuesday.

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In the statement, they said Johnson was cooperative and did nothing to provoke the officers' use of force.

"The misconduct of these officers would have gone unnoticed if it had not been captured by surveillance videos at the apartment complex where the assault occurred," the statement says. "We hope and pray that the Mesa Police Department will accept responsibility for the misconduct of these officers. Mesa must take concrete steps to ensure that culpable officers are disciplined, retrained, or dismissed.

"The Mesa Police Department must develop a law enforcement culture that meets community and constitutional norms and ensures that police and citizens go home safely after police interactions."

Video surfaces

Batista said a civilian notified him of the "alarming" video footage, which was captured on an apartment complex surveillance camera the night of the encounter among police and Johnson.

The incident started about 11:24 p.m., when police received a call of a woman in distress on Main Street about a mile east of Country Club Drive, Batista said.

The video shows several officers who approach Johnson, who appears to be talking on his cellphone on an apartment complex's an upper-floor walkway.

Batista said the incident happened on a fourth-floor apartment deck. He said Johnson was leaving the scene as one officer questioned Reyes. That officer asked Johnson to stay as more officers arrived to investigate, the chief said.

The video shows three other officers get to the fourth floor, exiting an elevator. Johnson had leaned against a railing while he used a cellphone, the video shows.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: Mesa police chief talking to media now about this physical response from officers during a contact with this man at an apt complex. Says he knew “nothing about this” and the video is “powerful and alarming” - @Matt_Fox10 will have more at 5 #Fox10Phoenix pic.twitter.com/4nVSJwHqTN — Stefania Okolie (@StefaniaFOX10) June 5, 2018

Three officers approach the man and began to search him. Then, two officers point to a wall behind Johnson and, eventually, he leans against it, the video shows.

Then four officers close in on Johnson, three of them begin punching him after one of them knees him, the video shows. Seven minutes after the officers handcuff him and zip tie his feet, officers began escorting Johnson into an elevator before one officer shoves his head into the elevator door, the video shows. The officers then bring Johnson back to the deck.

Toward the end of the video, one officer wraps a white cloth around Johnson's face, covering his eyes before three officers pick him up by his feet and arms and carry him into the elevator.

Batista declined to say whether Johnson was being uncooperative. He did say, "Just for the casual observer this isn't going to look right."

One of Johnson's lawyers raised concerns about past police incidents.

"This is terrible for Mesa police culture, and we're going to be doing everything we can to pursue justice for our client," said Taylor, one of the lawyers representing Johnson. "Mesa has a culture of police brutality, and this affects all people. that live in Mesa and travel through Mesa. and this culture needs to be cleaned up immediately."

Batista said that this incident prompted him to begin changing the department's policy on use of force to prevent another case like this. Also, he said, that there will be a new "stringent" policy to have officers report use-of-force cases more thoroughly.

The new policies weren't immediately available. It's unclear whether the officers detailed the use of force applied to Johnson in their reports, which were not immediately released on Monday.

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Other use-of-force cases

Mesa police have been crticized for other use-of-force incidents in the past year.

In February, the family of an 84-year-old grandmother posted pictures of a woman's bruises after a Mesa police officer grabbed her and took her down. After the pictures went viral on Facebook, Mesa police video showed the takedown. Police had originally said the woman slipped.

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In December, after former Mesa police officer Phillip Brailsford was acquitted by a jury of a second-degree murder charge, a judge allowed the release of unedited footage showing Brailsford fatally shooting a man who was on his knees crying, begging for his life. In that video, taken from police body cameras, a sergeant can be heard yelling commands at the man.

The incident happened in January 2016, but the unedited video was released almost two years later, prompting international outcry on social media.

Follow Uriel J. Garcia on Twitter @ujohnnyg