Columbus police release video of officer arresting man holding baby

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Columbus police addressed a video circulating on social media showing the use-of-force arrest of a man while he was holding his small child.

A video on Facebook showed a man holding a small child while being arrested after parking in a designated COTA bus stop. Chief Elaine Bryant said an officer responded to an incident at 10:16 a.m. Friday in southeast Columbus. Bryant said the division was aware of the video on social media and reviewed the officer’s camera footage, which was also posted online Saturday afternoon.

The footage showed a car parked mostly on the sidewalk in front of a residence as two adults holding a baby stood by their car. The man was not initially holding the child, but Bryant said he motioned for the woman to hand him the baby, which can be seen on the footage released by CPD. Bryant said the man appeared to be recording the officer, and video that appeared to be taken by both the man and the woman were posted online.

The footage was from the dashboard of the police cruiser, so not all audio was coherent. But faint yelling can be heard throughout the interaction. The officer can be seen gesturing to the car before the situation suddenly escalated. Both men could be seen physically grabbing at one another and can be heard yelling.

In the CPD video, the officer eventually grabs the man’s arm, who is holding the baby. The man is eventually pressed against his vehicle while still holding the child, which is shown in both video perspectives.

Bryant said the officer announced he was under arrest, and that the man repeatedly said “kill me” during the struggle. Bryant also said the officer made more than two dozen requests for the man to give the child to the woman, some of which can be heard in the woman’s social media post.

In the social media post, the woman can be heard asserting that she cannot grab the child, who at that point was between the man being arrested and the vehicle he was pushed against.

A sergeant arrived on scene soon after, Bryant said, and two CPD officers are seen on the social media video approaching the scene. One of the officers instructs the woman to step back in the woman’s video post, and the woman then asked if she was supposed to take the child or not. Soon after the sergeant arrived, the child was given to the woman.

Bryant said the officer used a level one use of force due to failure to comply and obstructing official business. She also said CPD referred the incident to the Department of the Inspector General for further investigation.