A Pittsburgh cop is on desk duty while his use of force during a controversial arrest earlier this week is scrutinized following the release of cellphone video footage.
The officer, identified as Andrew Jacobs, is seen on video repeatedly slamming 47-year-old Daniel Adelman’s head into the pavement outside the PPG Paints Arena, after authorities say Adelman attempted to interfere with the arrest of another suspect, WPXI reports.
According to the report, the incident started shortly after 10:30 p.m Tuesday when officers spotted 34-year-old David Jones, who has a warrant out on forgery charges and was known to have previously run away from a Pittsburgh officer attempting to serve that warrant.
Authorities say that when officers approached Jones once again, Jones looked at one and said, “You’re the officer I ran from before, aren’t you?” Officers then said that Jones attempted to rush them.
As the officers attempted to secure Jones, authorities say that Adelman appeared and attempted to interfere with the arrest, leading to the shocking violence that was caught on video. Jacobs is seen repeatedly punching Adelman and pushing his head into the ground. In their respective mug shots, both Jones and Adelman—who appear to be white—are shown with scrapes and bruises.
Adelman, who, according to his father, suffered a dislocated shoulder during the incident, was forcibly taken into custody on charges of obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest and public drunkenness, WPXI notes. Jones is facing charges of flight to avoid apprehension, as well as resisting arrest.
“Our office has requested additional information from the city regarding this arrest. In accordance with long-established protocols regarding use of force matters, the effectuation of this arrest is under review,” district attorney spokesman Mike Manko told the news station.
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police launched an internal review Wednesday morning into the use of force, with Police Chief Scott Schubert saying that excessive force will not be tolerated.
“We have a zero tolerance for excessive force among Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers. Our management of use of force includes an automatic review of every incident in which force is used when making an arrest,” Schubert said in a statement. “In addition, we have initiated a review that is being conducted by our Office of Professional Standards so that we can ensure that the use of force was objectively reasonable considering the situation confronted by officers.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto also echoed the chief’s words, insisting that officers are trained to “de-escalate” and there would be “zero tolerance for deviation to that standard.”
Read more at WPXI.