DALLAS — Police in Fort Worth, Texas, are finding themselves under a harsh spotlight after bystanders captured footage Saturday of officers struggling to handcuff a black man they had detained. The video appears to show an officer repeatedly punching 35-year-old Forrest Curry while trying to place him under arrest.
Forrest Currt
Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office
According to a police statement, the officers were responding to a disturbance call after Curry allegedly became “combative with Fort Worth Fire Department personnel” already on scene. Firefighters said he “appeared to be intoxicated and had attempted to assault them.” Police say when they arrived, Curry “fled on foot.”
Different cellphone angles captured what happened next. After a four-and-a-half minute struggle, three officers and one supervisor took Curry into custody.
He is currently being held in a local jail for evading arrest, resisting arrest and public intoxication.
Jasmine Crockett, Curry’s lawyer, says her client suffered from a seizure before the arrest and didn’t know why the officers were on top of him.
“It seems as if he suffered from a seizure and woke up potentially disoriented with what was going on,” Crockett said. “I honestly don’t believe that he resisted.”
Crockett says before this weekend incident, Curry was on probation for evading arrest. There have been two cases over the last two years which have strained relations between police and the black community in Fort Worth. The chief is asking for patience as he conduct an administrative investigation into the officers’ actions.
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