#Baton Rouge PD probing cop who used knee on 17-year-old during traffic stop

The Baton Rouge Police Department is investigating a traffic stop early this month during which a cop used his knee to restrain and arrest a 17-year-old boy.

A 37-second video of the arrest was shared by a bystander on Facebook, showing a small crowd watching as an officer pins the boy face-down with his knee as he arrests him on the ground next to a red sedan.

The officer is then seen escorting the boy in handcuffs as the video cuts out.

Chief Murphy Paul urged for residents’ “patience” this week as the investigation plays out, asking for faith in the “process.” Both officers have been placed on administrative leave as the investigation continues.

“We cannot break the law in an effort to seek justice for this young man nor can we interrupt the process of judging whether or not the actions of the officers involved was legal,” said Paul during a news conference Monday.

“I just spoke to the family of the young man, and I can tell you they are upset,” Paul said, who promised an “honest, clear and fully complete procedure of justice as it relates to this incident.”

The arrest was made on July 6 following a 54-minute police chase of the vehicle that began when the cops tried enforce a seatbelt violation, the local CBS-affiliate reported.

The 17-year-old was a passenger in the car and has been charged with principal to aggravated flight from an officer, criminal damage to property, possession of schedule 1 drugs and not wearing a seatbelt, the outlet reported.

The video outraged residents and local officials, as it appeared to show the officer with his knee on the neck of the boy — a move banned by the police department.

But on Tuesday the department released body camera footage from a different angle showing that the officer’s knee was actually on boy’s upper back, an approved technique taught to officers.

“A knee on a back is used as a control method, but not on the neck. The neck is off-limits,” the department’s Internal Affairs Commander Sgt. Myron Daniels Daniels said. “And as you can see, based on that, at no point was the subject, the juvenile’s air restricted in any way.”

Both Paul and the city’s mayor, Sharon Weston Broome, have pledged to review officers’ actions and tactics that are approved by the police.

“Chief Paul and I have long been proponents of 21st Century policing practices including proper de-escalation and conflict resolution,” Broome said in a statement.

“The methods and tactics used in any BRPD encounter is something we will continuously review in a comprehensive manner,” she added.

The family of the boy said they are pleased with how the investigation is being conducted so far.

It’s been very transparent,” Tenesha Cannon, the teen’s mother, told the station. [Chief Paul] is meeting with us … What we’re hopeful for is that after a thorough investigation, if there are at fault parties, that those parties are held to be accountable.”