By Police1 Statff
PHILADELPHIA — Video appears to show a police officer in Philadelphia striking a woman before arresting her at the city’s 50th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday.
Moments before the incident, the clip shows people in the crowd throwing liquid and silly string on a group of officers.
While the video uploaded to YouTube carried the headline “Philadelphia police brutality,” some users point out the clip does appear to show the woman in question throwing something toward the police.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department the woman, who has not yet been identified, was arrested for disorderly conduct.
The officer in the video, identified as highway patrol supervisor Lt. Jonathan Josey, is eager to tell his side of the story to internal investigators, according to The Associated Press.
John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said there is more to what happened than the video shows
“We’re hoping that it’s neither a whitewash nor a witch hunt,” McNesby said at a news conference Monday. “At the end of the day, his actions will be questioned, but I believe they can be defended.”
He told the news conference that, from what he understands about how things unfolded, police were trying to stop a driver who was “doing 360s” in the road.
“A guy was spinning wheels and burning tires in the middle of the (road), police are trying to stop it and ... as we’re doing it, things are being thrown, liquids are being tossed” at the officers by several people, he said.
Officers during such instances don’t know whether what’s being thrown on them is simply water, or whether it’s urine or chemicals, he added.