That altercation was not filmed. But cameras were rolling when FLPD cops arrested Henry, and a clip uploaded to Facebook shows the cops beating Henry with batons, pepper-spraying him, and placing him in a chokehold as bystanders demanded they stop. Now, the department says its internal affairs unit is investigating the arrest.
One clip of the arrest, filmed by a man named J.J. Chavez, has gone viral on the internet. The footage begins by showing FLPD officers surrounding Henry's parked car and trying to smash his windows in with batons. Once the cops get his door open, a woman starts yelling at the officers to stop attacking Henry. As she screams, the police repeatedly mace and wallop the 23-year-old Henry with batons before choking him and dragging him onto the ground.
"Stop resisting!" one officer is filmed shouting as Henry grunts underneath them.
"I'm not resisting," Henry replies. "I'm just trying to stand up."
An FLPD officer then pushes the man filming away from the scuffle.
Eventually, the officers sit a handcuffed Henry on the curb as they talk to him. Henry asks the cops what he's done. The officers say he hit a cop with his car.
"Oh my god!" a woman is heard shouting. "I see him
One person close to the camera then narrates what he claims to have seen. The anonymous bystander claims that he watched an officer ask Henry to stop his car, and Henry simply said no and kept driving. From there, the bystander said five officers stood in front of Henry's car, blocked his path, and then began wailing on him.
But police tell a different story. Before the video went viral, WPLG Local 10 News reported that an unnamed FLPD officer was "knocked over several feet, landed on his knees and braced himself against another vehicle." Police say the same officer then stood up and asked Henry to stop his car, but Henry allegedly refused.
Local 10 reported that the officer is "recovering from his injuries" without elaborating further. At the end of the clip posted to Facebook, though, one witness who says he saw the entire altercation can be heard shouting, "Where is the cop he ran over? We don't see him!"
Henry was taken to the Broward North Medical Center for treatment before being booked into the Broward County Main Jail. He's charged with aggravated battery on a law-enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer without violence, and failure to obey a police official. One of Henry's family members told Local 10 yesterday that Henry does not otherwise have a criminal record.
"The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is aware of this video, as well as our internal affairs office," spokesperson Casey Liening told New Times. "The internal affairs office is looking into it further. We are encouraging anyone who witnessed the incident to contact internal affairs at 954-828-6956."
