During an incident in May, a Detroit police officer claimed he was provoked and called for backup before assaulting and pepper spraying a man -- but cell phone video shot by a bystander proves differently.
According to Fox 2 Detroit, video shot by D'Marco Craft of his friend Michaele Jackson being assaulted by police officers Richard Billingslea and Hakeem Patterson, offers a different narrative than the official one in the officers' report.
"According to Billingslea's police report, he wrote that he already called for backup when he saw Mike Jackson as he was 'walk[ing] towards me yelling and shouting in a very aggressive manner,'" Fox 2's report reads.
But the video tells a different story, and shows Jackson, just moments after being pepper sprayed, appearing compliant before being body-slammed into a sales rack in the gas station where the assault took place. Later, both officers pinned Jackson to the ground, one cursing at him and alleging he laid hands on the officer.
Craft conceded that he cursed at one of the officers, but claims that his past history with Billingslea could have had something to do with the assault.
"Once I went in, I instantly recognized this police officer (Billingslea) because I've had confrontations with him since last year. It's been ongoing since March of 2016," Craft told Fox 2. "I froze a little. And he said: 'So why you not going to buy nothing now; probably because I'm in here. M******F*****, you don't want to buy nothing now?' So that's when I had to say, 'F*** you man, you know how you treat me all the time'."
Jackson, unaware of the situation, decided to go into the gas station despite his friend's request that they leave.
Craft's video is the first look at the altercation -- police confiscated the gas station's security footage, and declined to provide it to Fox 2 when they requested it.
Watch the disturbing video of the assault below, via Fox 2.
