Arlington Mother Demands Officer’s Firing as Cell Phone Video Emerges

ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF) – Cell phone video taken by a mother who says her son was thrown to the ground by an Arlington Police Officer has been posted to social media. Latasha Nelson is demanding the Officer be fired.

Attorney Kim T. Cole represents Nelson and says after confiscating her cell phone, Police told Nelson they would give her phone back if she gave them the video.

“When the discussion about the charges came up, Police said well, we could charge your sons with this but if you bring us this video,” Cole said Police implied. “They were adamant about wanting this video.”

Nelson’s 14-year-old son was arrested as a suspect in a burglary at his Arlington apartment complex. His mother became agitated when the Officer refused to tell her where her son was being taken. A heated conversation between her and the Officer followed. Cell phone video shows the Officer throwing Nelson’s 16-year-old son to the ground. She says he was stepping toward her, not the officer.

“It didn’t have to escalate like that,” said Nelson. “I just needed to know where he was going.”

The Arlington Police Department released a statement regarding the video:

On July 13, 2017, the Arlington Police Department received information regarding a social media video post which alleges misconduct by an Arlington Police Officer on July 3. The video captures a portion of an incident in which officers were dispatched to an in-progress offense.  Due to the age of the individuals involved, state law prohibits us from disclosing any additional information related to the incident which was captured on the video.

We take allegations of employee misconduct seriously.   We have reached out to the impacted family and are in the process of gathering all facts associated with this incident.  Upon reviewing the video posted on social media, there are many questions that must be answered. Therefore, this incident has been referred to Internal Affairs for a formal investigation. The investigation will focus on the employee actions contained in the video as well as employee actions and that were not captured on the video.

Police say the Officer remains on duty.