DETROIT – Police released surveillance video Tuesday showing an arrest at a Meijer store in Detroit which prompted claims of police brutality after cellphone video recently circulated social media showing an off-duty officer using a baton on a man wrongfully accused of retail fraud.
The new video shows the moments before and after the 23-year-old man was arrested on Sunday.
You can watch the Local 4 Defenders' latest update on the rough arrest in the video posted above.
David Bivins was taken into custody for disorderly conduct and resisting and obstruction. The interaction with police began with accusations of retail fraud.
Bivins' girlfriend said they were shopping at the Meijer store at Woodward Avenue and 8 Mile Road. When they left, loss protection employees approached them.
“We walked into the Meijer, went shopping like normal, purchased our items,” Ross said. “We did come in with outside bags from another store. We did emphasize to keep them separate that way they could see.”
According to Ross, it was quickly discovered that the items were not stolen and she returned the items immediately after the embarrassment of being accused of stealing. When she returned, her boyfriend was being struck with a baton.
Watch the new surveillance video released by police below:
A crowd gathered in the immediate area of the altercation.
Bivins lost a tooth during the arrest.
Watch the cell phone video which circulated social media:
"That was just wrong," Ross said.
In another video shot by Ross, the officer says he arrested the man for his use of profanity.
“I tried to get him to shut up,” the officer says in the video.
Watch the cell phone video shot by Ross below:
Detroit police Chief James Craig responded to the police brutality claims Monday.
Craig said the officer involved in the arrest is a 39-year veteran of the Detroit police force and was working off-duty as a security guard at the store. The 65-year-old officer was in uniform at the time. Craig said the department calls it "secondary employment."
The officer was not wearing a body camera because he was not on duty.
Craig called the incident a "quick escalation from what initially turned out to be active resisting to active aggression."
The chief said the force used during the arrest was appropriate, proper and reasonable. He said the officer’s report claimed Bivins was “very agitated.”
Craig said Bivins does not have an arrest record. Bivins was in police custody as of Monday. No charges have been announced. However, Chief Craig said warrant requests would be forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.
Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.
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