Video of black man's arrest for jaywalking triggers investigation
Cincinnati police are in the spotlight after a viral video showed a black man being arrested on a city street for jaywalking.
Chris Harrell, 29, filmed a police officer following him on a bike as he returned home from getting his morning coffee.
Harrell shared a video of the Feb. 6 arrest on his Facebook page last week. In the clip, Harrell is pointing his phone over his shoulder as a police officer is seen following closely behind.
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"Can’t go buy a cappuccino downtown or you are going to get harassed by the police," Harrell says in the clip. "Cop just asked me if I had a problem."
"Sir, you are scaring me. I don't know why you are following me," Harrell says to the officer.
The police officer approaches Harrell and tells him to stop and put down his belongings and tells Harrell that he crossed a street against a stoplight. Harrell tells the officer he crossed with the light.
The police officer, who Cincinnati.com identified as Baron Osterman, then arrested Harrell as he yelled, "You are violating my Constitutional rights."
"Sir, you are scaring me. I don't know why you are following me."
Harrell was charged with a pedestrian violation, possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana and resisting arrest. Mashable has reached out to Harrell for comment.
The Cincinnati Police Department released a statement on Friday saying it was aware of the video "that captured a portion of an arrest involving a CPD officer and a citizen." The police confirmed that a trial is currently underway, but the arrest is under investigation.
"We take all citizen concerns and complaints seriously," said Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac in a statement. "We are committed to transparency and will provide further information once we have allowed both the criminal trial and the administrative investigations to run their course."
Harrell was also charged with contempt of court and an arrest warrant was issued on March 4 after he took photos of police officers inside Hamilton County Courthouse during a court appearance. He posted the photos to his Facebook account, with the derogatory caption, "Look at these pigs y'all."
It is illegal to take photos inside the court without permission. According to police, Harrell has yet to complete a citizen complaint against the officer.
The city of Cincinnati has long had a problem with racially motivated violence from police.
A white University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted last year on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges for fatally shooting an unarmed black man on July 19, 2015.
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Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
