Albany Police Chief Says Video Is Misleading

Remember the video the other day that went viral of the Albany Police looking like he was punching a woman who was sitting in her car?

The video had people immediately jumping to the defense of the woman being arrested. There are always three sides to story.

Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins told WYNT the clip is misleading. Here is the Albany Police Chief's side according to WNYT:

"What's even more commendable about how those officers reacted that day was there was a seven to eight minute period of time after they had told this person that she was under arrest that the officers were almost pleading with her to comply," he said. "Because you could tell they were consciously thinking of other ways of resolving this incident that wouldn't involve a physical confrontation."

Hawkins told WNYT the most misleading part about what people are saying about the video is that the woman was struck in the face, and that the officers' actions were appropriate.

 

"The officers used forearm strikes to her forearm. So in other words, this was the officer using his or her forearm strike against that driver's forearm in order to get that person to release that steering wheel. Clearly shown in the body-worn camera. There were no strikes whatsoever to that person's face. There were no punches thrown." said Chief Hawkins.

 

Who do you believe in this story: the video or the police chief's explanation? I'm not sure what happened but if all this started from a traffic stop, it sounds ridiculous.

Either the woman didn't want to accept the ticket she was about to get and escalated the situation or the officer was having a terrible day and decided to take his aggression out on this woman. Whatever way you try to explain it won't change people's views of what they saw on camera.

After hearing the police chief's explanation do you think the arrest was excessive?