A Huntsville, Alabama police officer is under scrutiny after video of him went viral. The footage showed him stomping on a young Black man with schizophrenia after the man had already been subdued.
The video shows an officer in a struggle with 22-year-old Kemontae Hobbs, when a second officer joined in to restrain his head and shoulders.
The third officer who showed up stomped on the man's leg, yelling "stop resisting!"
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A satire account of the Huntsville Police Department shared the story on Twitter.
Hobbs' own mother found out her son was brutalized by the police by seeing the viral video.
Police failed to contact her or any of Hobbs' family, as is standard procedure when a suspected mentally ill suspect is taken into custody. They charged him with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, but no other crimes.
All charges appear to be related to police interaction with the mentally ill man, leading many to question why they were trying to subdue him in the first place.
The Huntsville Police Department issued a statement saying the incident was "under review."
"We have viewed citizen-provided video that partially captures the arrest process.
"We understand concerns with use of force techniques used in the arrest and we take these concerns seriously."
Hobbs' mother, Kimberlyn Hayes, said she will look into options for filing suit against the Huntsville Police Department.
"I'm going to try to sue them."
"I'm going to file a case about the police officer and how they did his leg like that and tased him while he was down, two or three times."
"I want to make sure this doesn't happen in the future to other people."
Suspects with mental health disorders are 16 times more likely to be killed by the police on domestic calls such as wellness checks or misdemeanors like loitering or trespassing such as the 2017 case of a mentally ill Indigenous man named Zachary Bear Heels.
Bear Heels was handcuffed then punched in the head and tased repeatedly by Omaha, Nebraska police officers. Bear Heels, who was declared dead shortly after being transported to the hospital, was not charged with any crime.
The officers responsible were initially fired, but three of the four were later reinstated with back pay after their police union filed a grievance. None of the officers were convicted of any crime.
These stark statistics are why re-allocating money to mental health services and having non-violent responses to the mentally ill is becoming a greater talking point across the nation.
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