TAYLOR, Mich. – Taylor police are putting out their bodycam footage, which they said shows patience before officers arrested a man accused of road rage.
The bodycam video shows officers using a taser and pepper spray on a 31-year-old driver.
READ: Rough arrest by Taylor police caught on camera
Minutes prior, a woman called 911, saying the man was trying to run her off of Telegraph Road. She told police it was road rage and that the man jumped on the hood of her car.
When officers got to the driver, he was asked 49 times over a span of almost six minutes to get out of his car, but he refused.
Taylor police chief John Blair said his officers had no idea if there was a gun in the car. The standoff only got more tense.
In midst of the exchange with police, the man yelled for someone to turn on their camera. A witness did turn on her camera and put the video on Facebook. Many people viewed it as excessive force.
The driver told police that he did not feel safe.
“We are trying to train our officers to have patience, to understand that there are some people, especially from the minority community that maybe are very intimidated with the police, have not either had a personal experience with them or the things they’ve heard is that we’re dangerous. We are trying to be more patient,” Blair said. “Police officers die this way. You can only wait so long.”
The driver’s mother said she does not think her son deserved what happened and has gotten an attorney.
The woman who called 911 and claimed road rage later stated that she made it up and stole money from the man in what police are calling a drug deal that went bad. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office will be weighing charges against both people.