CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Cell phone video of an arrest by Corpus Christi Police officers is raising questions about excessive force. The video starts in the middle of an arrest of a Black man near the Wells Fargo ATM at the intersection of Airline Road and SPID.
Officers can be seen yelling at the man to "stop resisting" as at least two of the officers repeatedly punched the man in the face and body. 3NEWS counted at least 17 punches in the 49-second video.
"Why is he punching him in the face?"
You can also hear the reaction from the couple taking the video. At first they disagreed over whether the man was resisting. The woman said, "You are resisting, you fool," but then a few seconds later, the man watching with her said, "he's not resisting," and they grew quiet.
The punches continued, and the woman said, "That's excessive," and "why is he punching him in the f****** face?" The video then ends.
What led to the arrest and punches
Corpus Christi Police said they got a call that there was a suspicious man in the area looking in cars and checking out what was in truck beds. 3NEWS confirmed with a security guard at the shopping center that he did call police. When a police officer arrived, the security guard pointed out the suspicious man.
The police officer went over to the man to question him, and CCPD said the man didn't listen.
"At first he verbally did not comply with officers, and then it became physical," said CCPD Lt. Eryka Gonzalez, the department's public information office supervisor.
That lines up with what the eyewitnesses who shot the cell phone video saw. They asked not to be identified.
"He was walking away from the officer," the male eyewitness said. "He began to run, and the officer pursued him and the guy didn't get really far. So the officer grabbed the gentleman, slammed him up against our car actually, and his face was right against the window."
The couple described the man as "not in the right state of mind" but said he "wasn't aggressive."
Two other officers arrived, and the couple said that's when in their opinion, the officers' actions became excessive and the couple started taking video of the incident.
"The gentleman had his arm under him, so there was no way for him to get his arm out. I don't really feel like he was resisting at that point," he added.
'Compliance strikes' and CCPD policy
3NEWS asked if the man was combative at any point and tried to hit the officers. Lt. Gonzalez said she had not seen any of the body cam or dash cam footage. 3NEWS submitted a public records request for those videos.
Lt. Gonzalez did watch the cell phone video and said officers are allowed to punch suspects.
"We would call that a compliance strike," Lt. Gonzalez said. "There are a variety of different what we call compliance techniques that officers are trained in."
The couple believes the officers might need more training.
"There was obviously other ways they could have handled the situation," they said. "He wasn't hurting anybody at the time."
"The Corpus Christi Police Department is looking at the video, making sure that everything that the officers did is within policy and within their training."
Charges the man is currently facing
The man was booked in the Nueces County jail on two charges for resisting arrest and evading arrest. His bail was set at a combined $1,750. Typically you need 10 percent of your bail to bond out. That would be $175. As of 6 p.m. Friday, the man remained in jail. 3NEWS is choosing to limit the use of his name, identity and mugshot since he is not charged with a serious crime.
Also of note, the man is listed as 5-foot-9 and weighing 135 pounds.