Allentown Police officer recorded kneeling on man's neck outside hospital
07/13/2020 11:22 am PDT
via WNEP:
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WNEP) -- A controversy erupted over the weekend in the Lehigh Valley, triggered by a video showing a police officer's knee on a man's neck in Allentown.
Allentown Police say they encountered a man vomiting and staggering toward a hospital emergency room on Saturday night. Police said he was non-compliant.
The incident at St. Luke's Hospital Sacred Heart Campus prompted a Black Lives Matter protest in Allentown later Saturday night. The city's mayor and police chief showed up at the protest to ease tensions.
The man restrained by police was treated and released.
“The observed erratic behavior resulted in the officers and hospital staff interacting with the individual,” the police department wrote in a news release, at which point they say the man began to yell, spit and scream at them.
The Morning Call reports the Allentown Police Department is conducting an internal investigation into the use of force. The Lehigh County district attorney's office also assigned two county detectives to investigate the incident, and the district attorney will release a statement this week when his review of that investigation is complete.
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