(OCEAN CITY, Md.) — A video showing a Maryland police officer kneeing a man multiple times during an arrest over vaping is circulating through social media.
The encounter began on Saturday just before 8:30 p.m. in the coastal resort town of Ocean City after officers approached a “large group vaping on the boardwalk” near 12th Street, the city said in a statement.
After the officers informed the group of the city ordinance prohibiting smoking and vaping, the officers observed a man resume vaping, officials said. When the officers approached the group again, the man refused to provide his identification and “became disorderly,” and a large crowd began to form around the officers, according to the city.
The video, taken by witness Lauryn Gray, was taken as the detainee was already on the ground.
One officer can be heard telling the detainee, identified by officials as 19-year-old Brian Everett Anderson of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to “stop resisting.”
Anderson can be heard saying, “I’m not resisting” and, “He just kneed me, bro,” before one officer knees him forcefully several more times while the crowd reacts in the background. Witnesses surrounding the scene can be heard yelling at officers.
Gray says she was with friends at the Brothers Bistro and Bar when they heard a “thud,” she told ABC News. She said she started recording after she saw officers surrounding a man on the floor and yelling at him to stop resisting.
The man yelled back: “What are you arresting me for,” before the officer kneed him in the ribs several times, Gray said, adding that she did not see what led up to the altercation.
City officials said they were aware of the social media videos circulating, stating that the officers “are permitted to use force, per their training, to overcome exhibited resistance.”
“All uses of force go through a detailed review process,” the statement read. “The uses of force from these arrests will go through a multi-level examination by the Assistant Patrol Commander, the Division Commander and then by the Office of Professional Standards.”
Several others were arrested as a result of the incident.
One man, identified by officials as 18-year-old Jahtique Joseph John Lewis of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, can be seen throwing a marked police bike toward a public safety aide, officials said.
Lewis allegedly pushed the aide in the chest before picking up the bike and attempting to strike the aide with it, officials said. After officers took the bike away from Lewis, he allegedly assaulted the aide again and then resisted arrest when officers attempted to arrest him, officials said.
As officials and public safety aides attempted to establish a perimeter to separate the hostile crowd from the arrests, another man in the group, 19-year-old Kamere Anthony Day of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, continued to yell profanities after an officer had placed the bike in front of him, officials said. Day allegedly refused to comply with orders and continued to attempt to approach the officers who were putting Anderson under arrest, officials said.
During the chaos, another man, 19-year-old Khalil Dwayne Warren of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was seen standing on private property that had two “no trespassing” signs, officials said. When the officers ordered Warren to leave, he allegedly “became disorderly” and then resisted arrest, officials said.
Anderson was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting or interfering with arrest, second-degree assault and failure to provide proof of identity.
Lewis was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing and hindering, failure to obey reasonable and lawful order, resisting or interfering with arrest and second-degree assault, officials said.
Day was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing and hindering, failure to obey reasonable and lawful order, resisting or interfering with arrest and second-degree assault, officials said.
Warren was charged with trespassing and resisting or interfering with arrest.
Anderson, Lewis, Day and Warren all appeared before a Maryland district court commissioner and were released on their own recognizance.
ABC News could not immediately reach any of the teens for comment. Court records do not list attorneys for any of the defendants but indicate that they are eligible to be represented by a public defender.
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