The Hartford police department has responded to a video circulating on Facebook that appears to show police repeatedly hitting someone with a baton. The video has been viewed over 100,000 times since it was posted Monday morning. Police say the video of shows only a small part of the confrontation, which happened on Sunday.
According to Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley, 34-year-old Samuel Bryant was stopped for drinking in public and was searched for drugs. He said, according to the police report, that Bryant hit Detective Brian Salkeld, broke Salkeld’s nose, and ran away.
Foley also said Bryant was on probation for a prior crime and that means he’d be at risk for going back to prison.
"So it’s likely that came into play in his attempts to elude capture from police as he was, according to the report, in possession of crack cocaine and powdered cocaine," he said.
Foley said the Bryant refused to get on the ground for an arrest at the end of the altercation, and that’s why the police kept hitting him. Bryant, who faces charges including assaulting an officer, is being held in lieu of $150,000 bond.
This story contains information from the Associated Press.