Providence police bodycam footage shows officer punching man during arrest

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Newly released police bodycam video shows a new view of a controversial arrest in Providence earlier this month.

A police sergeant punched Adonis Placencio in the head and stomach during his arrest Aug. 11, as officers tried to disperse a crowd on Broad Street in the aftermath of the Dominican Festival in the city.

Two days later, NBC 10 News showed cell phone video of the arrest posted to social media that shows the officer punching Placencio.

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez called a news conference that day to defend his officers, claiming the use of force had been reviewed and was justified.

Officers claimed Placencio was not leaving the area and was acting suspiciously about the bag over his shoulder, and was then looking to ditch the bag.

Officers then said they felt a gun in his bag.

Police said they found a gun in the bag after the arrest.

Placencio can be seen in the background of the body camera video in the minutes before his arrest.

At one point he shouts at officers trying to clear the crowd, saying, "we were leaving."

Placencio remained in the area, and about a minute later an officer points in his direction and a group of offices converge on him.

"What are you arresting me for bro? I didn’t do nothing bro," Placencio can be heard saying in the video.

He then says, "I didn’t do nothing. Why are you punching me?"

Police released video from one officer’s camera.

The video also shows officers trying to disperse the crowd, including using chemical spray shortly after Placencio’s arrest.

Minutes later, one officer tells another, "I already sprayed a few."

In the 10-minute video released by police, officers repeatedly tell people in the crowd it was time for those gathered on the street to go home, and one officer warned early in the video that those who didn’t leave could get sprayed.

Toward the end of the video, officers talk to each other about drinks being thrown at them.

One officer tells another, "The big guy they arrested had a gun," referring to Placencio.

Placencio was ordered held for violating the terms of a sentence in a previous gun conviction.