Video shows Meridian police punching man during arrest. Here’s what we know
To detain a 38-year-old man who was allegedly drunk, refusing to comply with commands and resisting arrest, officers with the Meridian Police Department pinned him to the ground and eventually punched him at least four times — something its officers have been criticized for before.
Police responded Saturday to West Franklin and North Ten Mile Road regarding a vehicle collision in the left turn lane of Franklin, according to probable cause affidavits filed by two officers, Kyle Keillor and Taylor Sherman.
In between the two vehicles involved in the accident, officers saw the passenger of a Ford Expedition SUV that was behind a VW Jetta standing outside, the affidavits said. He was asked to sit in the passenger seat while officers investigated whether the driver of the Expedition was intoxicated. Minutes later, the passenger exited the vehicle and “entered into oncoming traffic,” a police spokesperson, Jordan Robinson, said in an email to the Idaho Statesman.
Keillor, who joined the department in 2022, ordered the man to stay in the vehicle, but he refused, according to the affidavits. The man then resisted arrest by pulling away from the officer as he “attempted to gain control of (the man) by grabbing his arm,” according to one officer’s affidavit.
Keillor wrote that the man fell to the ground and continued to resist arrest, despite the police department saying in its email that the officer “forced” the man to the ground.
“I told (the man) he was under arrest, and he held his left arm under his body to avoid arrest,” Keillor wrote. One of the officers placed the man in a carotid restraint hold — many agencies, including Meridian, have restrictions around how this neck-hold may be used — and rolled the man onto his stomach, Robinson said, while a second officer grabbed the man’s right arm.
Police said the man continued to resist being handcuffed by burying his left arm under his body, so one of the officers struck him on the side of his body, which is when video of the incident that were sent to the Statesman began. It’s unclear which of the officers on scene struck the man, as the Meridian Police Department didn’t identify the officers and the probable cause affidavits don’t detail the use of force.
In two video clips, which were sent to the Statesman by a witness, the man is face-first on the ground while one of the officers straddles him and pushes his head into the sidewalk.
Video shows part of arrest in Meridian
Ten seconds into the initial video, the officer sitting on the man punched him, according to the footage. And then seconds later, the officer struck the man three more times, according to the initial video.
By the 35-second mark, two other officers arrive. While the four police officers work to detain the man, the same officer who struck him pushed the man’s face across the sidewalk. In his mugshot, posted by the Ada County Jail, the man has abrasions on both sides of his face and his nose.
Robinson said in his email to the Statesman that the man was taken to a hospital and treated “for road rash to his face and forehead” before being taken to jail. He was booked on suspicion of two misdemeanor charges, pedestrian under the influence of drugs or alcohol and resisting or obstructing officers.
Attempts by the Statesman to reach the man’s public defender were not successful.
The punches were “not effective” in gaining control of the man’s left arm, Robinson said, so an officer then used a lateral head displacement technique — moving the suspect’s head sideways and away from alignment with their spine — which makes their upper body weaker.
This technique allowed officers to gain control of the man’s right arm and start to place him in handcuffs, Robinson said.
The video footage, taken from a vehicle, doesn’t show the head technique and cuts out after a minute. A second video taken a few minutes later shows more than half a dozen officers surrounding the man as they finish handcuffing him and sit him up on the sidewalk.
Meridian police incident three years ago
This incident comes three years after a bystander captured footage of Meridian Police Officer Donald Heida punching then-31-year-old Colt Seward at least half a dozen times in the face and head while trying to arrest him. Seward suffered a broken bone near his right eye and had a traumatic brain injury, the Statesman previously reported. Seward, who is incarcerated, has since sued the police department.
Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea said at the time that the officer who punched Seward acted “within policy.” While punching someone who is resisting isn’t encouraged, he said he supported the officer’s actions and emphasized that “these incidents don’t happen if the suspect cooperates.”
The man arrested last weekend is being held on a $500 bond on the misdemeanors. For being under the influence as a pedestrian, he could face up to six months in jail, and for resisting arrest, he could face up to a year. Both charges carry a maximum fine of $1,000.
The driver of the vehicle was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors: driving under the influence and driving without privileges, court records showed.
