Three officers with the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department executed an arrest warrant on 24-year-old Patrick Mumford, tazing him when he refused to comply. However, the warrant was for a completely different man named Michael Clay. A video of body cam footage from the accidental arrest was posted to YouTube by civil rights attorney William Claiborne and shows that Mumford attempted to identify himself. He also asked to see the warrant for his arrest. He was ignored by all three officers.
According to the clip, even though the officers were mistaken in arresting Mumford, the Georgia man faces charges of obstruction for failing to identify himself. In the clip, one of the officers repeatedly claims he asked Mumford to identify himself and justifies the arrest by saying that Clay and Mumford look “a good bit alike” (they don’t).
After Claiborne’s clip caused outrage, the SCMPD released all three officers’ unedited body cam footage. The police department claimed that Claiborne was intentionally misleading the public with his version of the clip.
The police department said in a statement that the video “is apparently intended to be inflammatory, and to continue our transparency with the community, the SCMPD is releasing all of the body camera video of the incident.”
“The video released by the defense attorney was edited and omits significant portions wherein a relative asks the individual to be cooperative,” the statement continues. “The relative on the video also suggests the arrestee is similar in appearance to the wanted person, who purportedly lived at that residence. The edited video also omits other calm interactions the officers had with relatives and the arrestee.”
The department concluded that they are investigating the incident and will “not rush to unfair judgements based on highly edited videos which are apparently intended to mislead and inflame the public against the officers involved.”
While Claiborne isn’t currently representing Mumford, he said the video “speaks for itself.”
“Patrick was minding his own business, sitting in a car that he owns, in a driveway of a house where he resides,” he told ABC Savannah. “Law enforcement came upon him, they were immediately aggressive, it speaks for itself … Patrick tells them the truth, and they never ask him for his ID. They assume he’s lying and falsely arrest him.”
(Via ABC Savannah & Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department)