EAST LANSING – Police have begun an internal investigation after a video was posted to social media raising questions about an arrest made by officers over the weekend in the city’s downtown, officials said in a Monday evening news release.
The Lansing branch of the NAACP also on Monday evening renewed its calls for Police Chief Jennifer Brown to step down, saying the video shows a Black woman being struck by officers.
The police department said in a statement Monday evening that the video officials have seen “does not capture the entire incident,” but that they would review body-worn camera footage and “any other material related to the incident” during the investigation.
The department in a statement said police officials would work with the city attorney’s office to decide what can be released to the public after the review.
“We take issues of safety very seriously and will be thoroughly reviewing what happened early Sunday morning,” East Lansing Interim City Manager Annette Irwin said in the police department statement.
One police officer has been put on paid administrative leave as part of the investigation, officials said.
The NAACP Lansing Branch said in its statement it wants police to immediately release body-worn camera footage of the incident, conduct a full review of its use of force practices and that Brown either resign or be fired.
The NAACP said officers used force on a Black woman early Sunday morning outside Harper’s Restaurant and Brew Pub, adding that an officer punched Myana Collins, 20, “several times on the back and arm while she was lying on the ground face down, handcuffed and restrained at the legs.”
The State Journal has not obtained a copy of the video.
“According to the family, Collins had been out with friends when she was approached by several ELPD officers outside of Harper’s,” the NAACP said in its statement. “Shortly after leaving the restaurant, the family reports that Collins was tased multiple times and handcuffed. The cellphone footage recorded by a bystander at the scene shows several police officers around Collins holding her face down on the ground handcuffed when she began screaming for help and begging officers not to kill her. The video shows that Collins was detained and did not pose a threat, yet, a police officer punches her several times while yelling at her.”
Collins sought treatment at a hospital and was later released, the NAACP statement said, adding that Collins has not been charged with a crime.
“Once again this disturbing video shows the East Lansing Police Department’s use of excessive force on another Black person, this time a Black woman,” said James McCurtis Jr., president of the NAACP Lansing Branch.
City officials asked the public to share any video footage or other information about the incident by emailing Capt. Adrian Ojerio at aojerio@cityofeastlansing.com.
The incident is the latest downtown arrest to draw attention to the city’s police department. An incident during Welcome Weekend for Michigan State University last fall prompted calls for changes in the department by the NAACP and others.
An investigation is also ongoing into a fatal shooting by East Lansing police, who shot and killed an MSU student after the man was accused of stabbing and seriously injuring a local attorney. The man was shot after running at police responding to the area.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing police to investigate weekend arrest after video surfaces
Reporting by Lansing State Journal staff, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Lansing State Journal staff, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
