A Florida policeman has been placed on administrative leave after video emerged of him with a knee on a black man’s neck.
Officer Martinez from Sarasota police department was filmed kneeling on Patrick Carroll’s neck during an arrest on May 18 – just days before George Floyd was killed by an officer doing the same.
Genevieve Judge, spokesman for Sarasota police department, confirmed to DailyMail.com that Officer Martinez had been put on administrative leave.
She said they were not confirming his first name ‘due to officer safety issues’.
Helicopter footage from Sarasota authorities shows the moment Patrick Carroll is handcuffed
When Carroll resists getting into the police patrol car he is wrestled to the floor by the officers
Officer Martinez’s knee, circled, is on Carroll’s neck. Officer Wicinski restrains his legs
Sarasota police say they received footage taken by bystanders on Tuesday.
The footage shows a lengthy stand-off between Carroll, 27, a convicted felon who was wanted as a suspect in domestic violence, and the police.
Police helicopter footage shows two officers, Martinez and Wicinski, speaking to Carroll from 7:40pm, with Carroll gesturing and the officers seeming to reason with him.
At 7:47pm they move to put him in handcuffs.
As he is walked towards the patrol car, handcuffed, he begins to resist the two officers, squirming and pushing back.
The official police report, written by Martinez, states: ‘After being placed in handcuffs, defendant attempted to pull away from officers and refused to get into the rear of the patrol vehicle.’
At 7:48pm Officer Martinez grabs him by the neck and pushes him to the ground, while Officer Wicinski restrains his legs.
A minute later Officer Martinez has his knee on Carroll’s neck and a third officer, Stanaland, joins the two other policemen, standing over them and watching Carroll on the ground.
‘Minor force was used to escort subject to the ground and secure him long enough for him to calm down,’ Martinez wrote.
An unidentified man, who took cellphone video of the arrest, shouts at officers: ‘You got your knee on my man’s neck, man, on his neck, bro.’
Another angle of the scene, with Officer Stanaland standing over Officer Martinez
Officer Martinez is seen with his right knee on the neck of Patrick Carroll, wanted for battery
A bystander gestures at Officer Martinez, whose knee is on the neck of 27-year-old Carroll
At 7:50pm, Officer Martinez removes his knee from Carroll’s neck and continues to search him.
At 7:51pm Carroll is helped to his feet and put inside the patrol car.
The officers, in their report, said they found marijuana and .22 caliber rounds in his backpack, meaning he faces charges of illegal possession of ammunition in addition to domestic violence and resisting arrest.
Bernadette DiPino, chief of Sarasota police, had 48 hours earlier condemned the ‘knee-to-neck maneuver’ used by Minneapolis police on May 25.
‘The men and women of the Sarasota Police Department are not trained to use tactics I’ve seen in the videos in Minneapolis,’ she said.
‘The actions of the officers in Minneapolis were inexcusable.’
Most police departments in the U.S. do not allow neck restraints, said Andrew Scott, an expert witness on the use of force and former police chief of Boca Raton, Florida.
He told USA Today the use of the tactic was not often allowed.
The Sarasota police department said the chief was unhappy at Officer Martinez’s use of the maneuver.
‘Chief DiPino was disturbed to see an officer kneeling on the head and neck of an individual in the video,’ SPD said in an emailed statement.
‘While it appears the officer eventually moves his leg to the individual’s back, this tactic is not taught, used or advocated by our agency.’