Arrest Made on Main Street Evaluated For Use Of Force - Video Footage With Audio
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UPDATE 4/26/2024: The Beacon Police Department has issued an update of what led to the circumstance of this arrest. Click here to read it.
At 9:15am on a quiet Sunday morning in Beacon, an arrest was made by Beacon Police that is currently being evaluated for its Use of Force. The video of that arrest, taken by A Little Beacon Blog, is at the end of this article. Scroll down.
Usually on a Sunday morning at that time, Beacon is just waking up. The streets are still nearly empty of pedestrians. The outdoor Beacon Farmer’s Market in the DMV parking lot has not completely set up yet, but the Beacon Flea Market behind the Post Office is up and running. Coffee shops are open, Mr. V’s Deli is serving breakfast sandwiches, Peaceful Provisions doughnuts has their line out the door before they sell out. Otherwise, that’s it. Most people and businesses are setting up for what will become a bustling weekend day in Beacon.
A Little Beacon Blog happened to be walking down the street with a friend at the time of the arrest. The first sound of shouting came from a Beacon Police Officer, who said: “Phone down! Phone down! Hands on the wall!” The sound was coming from the side of Finders Keepers, inside of the Beacon Car Wash driveway. The officer repeated, louder this time: “HANDS ON THE WALL!” He approached with a handgun drawn. A second officer walked up behind him, followed by a third officer who jogged to the scene. A fourth officer arrived with gloves on. No sirens were heard from the 4 police cars who arrived on the scene.
The officer shouted again: “On the ground. On the ground!”
The person who the officers approached, who was a white male wearing a gray sweatshirt and pants with gray sneakers with neon green soles, started shouting “Ow! Ow!” as he was taken to the ground by the 4 officers. The man shouted: “You took my glasses off! You ruined my glasses. And my pod. And my pod. And my pod. And my pod.”
Screenshot of the male suspect on the ground, putting his arm over his head, before the officer with the rifle came around and placed his own hand on the man to hold his head down.
The first officer came back with a rifle while the three other officers took the man down to the ground. The first officer came around with his rifle pointed down at the man, and then relaxed his rifle as he bent down near the man on the ground to brush away the items that came away from the man’s possession.
The man put an arm over his head, which was covered in a hoodie. The first officer knelt down and put his own hand near the man’s head to hold his head to the ground, applying pressure. The man continued yelling “Ow! Ow! Ow! Get off my head!” The officer with the rifle yelled “Stop resisting!”
The man said in a quieter voice, muffled: “I’m not resisting. I didn’t do anything.”
The first officer responded: “Stop resisting!” The man responded: “I’m not resisting. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do it. I’m not resisting.” Another officer took the man’s arm to try to bring it back behind the man.
“You’re hurting me. I didn’t do anything. You’re breaking my head! You’re breaking my head! I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Three officers worked to get the man’s arms into handcuffs. The first officer was leaning into the man by way of his arm on the lower area of the man’s head or neck area. The officer’s legs were supporting his own weight as it bore down into the man’s lower head area, while the officer balanced on his rifle, which was grounded into the sidewalk.
After the officers finished handcuffing him, the man said “Just arrest me,” as the officers spun the man over onto his stomach. The man continued: “I didn’t do anything. You broke my glasses. Get my pod. Alright?…I want my wallet, and that’s it.” An officer said something else, to which the man responded: “I have nothing.” The man continued shouting, then stated “You just beat the fuck out of me. I need my stuff.” The man and the officers continued to argue.
An officer said: “You were threatening to shoot people.” The man responded: “No I wasn’t. No I wasn’t.” The man then asked what was the big deal. “Because I’m white? What if I was Black? Let me up.” He asked for his stuff again, and said he was a white guy.
After the incident, Sergeant Sirrine crossed the street to let witnesses know that this incident was being considered for evaluation because Use of Force was used, and they wanted to hold themselves accountable. At that time, Sergeant Sirrine did not indicate which type of Use of Force. He fumbled with his body camera for a while to turn it on to record the interview, but the body cam would not turn on. He said he thought it might be because he himself went down when the man went down, and his body cam might have gotten bumped, but that it often is problematic. Eventually, the body cam responded and began recording.
Myself (Katie of A Little Beacon Blog), Joe from Max’s, and Brenda from BJ’s Restaurant were all interviewed about what we saw of the arrest. At first he asked if we were “the callers," as in the person or persons who called the police initially. We said we were not, but had been standing here.
We asked him what the reason was that the man was arrested. He answered that a call had come in that a man had a gun, that a call had been made near a doughnut shop. As he troubleshooted his body camera, a voice came over the radio: “Peaceful Provisions” the voice on the radio said.
Once Sergeant Sirrine got the body cam working, our interview began. Joe said that he felt the officer holding down the man’s head down seemed too much. Katie said she saw four officers throw down one man. Sergeant Sirrine corrected her to say that the man was not thrown, but taken down to the ground. Brenda said that she did not see the arrest, but did see the police cars drive past her shop without sirens on.
Katie asked if Sergeant Sirrine if he had recognized the man. The Sergeant said he did not. The Sergeant said that the man had been arrested, and that he might end up in a “psych ward.” The Sergeant said a gun did not appear to in the man’s possession, which is why he had been checking trash cans to see if the man threw it somewhere.
An hour later, A Little Beacon Blog inquired with the doughnut shops. Peaceful Provisions said they did not hear of anything, as were too busy inside to know of anything outside. This was a difficult question session because the apple fritters looked so good. A caller could have been anyone from outside.
Glazed Over was closed to the public at that hour, but an employee was in to set up tables and chairs outside. From the dizzying aroma of the freshly made doughnuts, the employee answered that they had not heard about anything, and that they had been there all morning.
The Beacon Police have since issued a Press Release about the incident, which stated that witnesses to the original incident confirmed the man “threatened people on Main Street with shooting.” The Press Release confirmed that a search of the area revealed no firearms.
Regarding the User of Force, the Press Release expanded: "As other officers arrived and attempted to place handcuffs on him, the body camera footage showed that the suspect pulled his arm away from them and in front of his body. Officers, still unsure if he was armed or not, forced the suspect to the ground. It appears at the time, that they then utilized technique called "body segmenting" to control the suspect. Body segmenting is a technique, which is taught in compliance with New York State's Municipal Police Training Council standards, in which officers use pressure on the hips, head and legs (depending on the number of officers available) in order to control a combative suspect's movement while simultaneously avoiding putting pressure on any areas that would impact the suspect's ability to breath. The suspect was then placed into handcuffs without further incident. He was transported to Beacon PD HQ where he was offered, and refused medical treatment."
The Press Release states that charges are still pending, and that an investigation is ongoing into his alleged actions and alleged motivations. The Press Release does not state specifically what the charges are.
The Press Release concludes that conducing a Use of Force investigation is standard procedure, and that further information will be released when available.
