A video posted to Facebook on Tuesday shows a white police officer choking a black man in prom attire and slamming him to the ground as the man struggles to speak. The incident occurred outside a Waffle House in Warsaw, North Carolina, the preceding Saturday.
Anthony Wall, 22, went to the restaurant after attending prom with his 16-year-old sister. Police were called after he got into an argument with Waffle House staff. A clip of that exchange included in a local news report shows Wall and a girl, presumably his sister, yelling at a Waffle House staffer.
In the video, Wall’s arms are raised in the air as the officer forces him against a window. Wall manages to turn around and face the cop, who then grabs him by the neck. “Get your hands off of me,” Wall says, before the officer throws him to the ground.
The officer, crouching over him, then pushes Wall’s face into the curb and tells him to put his hands behind his back. “Get your hands off of me,” Wall says. “Get your supervisor out here and get your hands off of me.”
“He’s not supposed to be doing that,” a bystander—apparently the videographer—can be heard saying of the officer. “I’m glad I’m recording this.”
Wall was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, ABC11 reports.
The Warsaw Police Department says it is investigating the incident. Asked if the officer’s conduct reflected department training, chief Eric Southerland said no, the New & Observer reports. But he defended the cop involved: “It’s not what you’re trained to do in incidents like this but when you’re dealing with someone fighting and resisting against an officer, you try to use proper tactics and go for one move, but that might not work because that person is moving or the officer is moving,” Southerland said. “In real versus training situations, moves don’t always work out like you want them to.”
The incident follows another one last month at an Alabama Waffle House. In that case, a black woman was violently arrested after an altercation with restaurant staff over the cost of utensils.
