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A Black teen is suing Fresno, California police department after police body camera video displayed a officer punching the teen punching him. London Wallace, who has no gang affiliations and no criminal history when the video shows Frenso police officer Christopher Martinez punching him several times in the head and face, according to ABC 30. The teen was arrested on charges of resisting arrest and obstruction, which have since been dropped.

The incident occurred on Jan. 23 at an apartment where a gang member was known to reside Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told The Fresno Bee. Dyer said Wallace was one of 15 to 20 people in the apartment when officers came to the scene. Then body camera video shows Wallace putting his hands behind his head while an officer patted him down.

Once the officer finished, another officer is seen telling Wallace something then pointing to the ground where other people are sitting down. Then seconds later Martinez confronted Wallace, who was standing and grabbed the teen’s arm.

“Hey, don’t touch my little brother,” one man is heard yelling in the video. Wallace is the shown saying something to Martinez, and he responded by throwing at least six punches at the teen’s face and head. Wallace’s attorney, Nolan Kane, said the footage shows the full picture of what occurred.

“He’s a high school kid. He likes playing basketball. He’s a nice, calm, timid person,” Kane said. “And you can kind of see that in the video. He’s not used to police contact.”

Legal analyst Ralph Torres said police usually have a built-in defense of fearing for the officer’s safety.

“But in this case, the kid was patted down. There was nothing there,” Torres said. “And I don’t see anything that was consistent with an officer basically putting his fist right through his face.”

Dyer told reporters in a press conference last week that Martinez was placed on modified duty pending an investigation.

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“The video that I have reviewed certainly raises concerns and raises questions for me as a police chief,” Dyer said. “Those questions will be answered once all the video is reviewed, the interviews are conducted, the evidence is looked at and the investigation is complete.”

Martinez said in a police report the Fresno Bee obtained he punched Wallace “approximately three times in the face in order to get him off me and to back him up.”

“I noticed Wallace was not listening,” Martinez said in the report. “I believed Wallace was going to attempt to flee.”

“By punching Wallace in the face, I received the desired effect, creating the distance between me and Wallace, which allowed me to get my back off of the second story balcony railing” Martinez added.

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