Questionable Arrest on Fresno CC Campus

Saturday, September 26, 2009

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Shannon Handy
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Fresno, CA (KFSN) -- Cell phone video shot at Fresno City College Friday shows what some are calling a case of police brutality.

"It was like ten to fifteen police up here, they trying to say they didn't put his hands on him, but they did."

Witnesses say the altercation started after a student was walking on campus carrying a skateboard.

An officer with Fresno City College asked him to hand the skateboard over because they're not allowed on campus.

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That's when witnesses say things got out of hand.

"After they took his skateboard, the cop told him to get down. He pulled out mace, sprayed him, the kid started running, another officer cornered him and tackled him to the ground."

"And we're all watching like, what are you doing? What are you doing to this child?"

Cell phone video shows officers restraining the skateboarder and telling another student, wearing a white tank top, to back away.

When he refuses, a city college officer is seen in the video chasing after him, while another appears to be swinging a baton.

A City College spokeswoman confirmed that an officer did try to mace one of the students. She said that the skateboarder was combative and that the situation grew worse only after the second student intervened.

"There was a request for a student to turn over a skateboard and there was resistance to that which turned into an altercation between the officers and the person. Another person became involved and then that is where an altercation developed."