A Texas deputy is being investigated after a video of him punching a teenager and shouting expletives surfaced.
ABC13 reports that the officer has been placed on administrative leave. In the footage—recorded at a convenience store in Harris County, the southeast part of the state—the deputy approaches the teenager outside as he’s filling gas in his all-terrain vehicle with two friends. The deputy asks for the teen’s driver’s license.
When the deputy looks at the ID, he tells the teen who only identified by his first name, Carlos, to turn around. Carlos flinches and the officer grabs him, telling him he will beat his ‘fucking ass” if he tries to flee.
“Don’t run from me boy,” the deputy says and yells to turn around and put his hands behind his back. “He just looked at my ID for like two seconds and said to put my hands behind my back,” the boy told ABC13. “That’s when I panicked a little and pulled away from him and he grabbed me.”
The deputy punches Carlos in the face and he falls to the ground, where the deputy Carlos again. “You turn around and put your hands behind your back,” the officer says. “All I was going to do was talk to you, but no [expletive].”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez shared a message about the incident on Twitter, writing, “We are aware of an incident in which one of our deputies used physical force and unprofessional language against a suspect at a convenience store on Friday. The incident is under internal investigation and the deputy is being placed on administrative duty.”
Police say the teen was charged with evading arrest. After his arrest, he was taken to a location, fingerprinted, and released to his parents.
“I just don’t think I should be treated in that manner for riding on the street,” Carlos told ABC13. ATVs aren’t legal in the neighborhood, but he’s never had issues with it before. “A lot of 16-year-olds got ATVs … (they) want to have fun with their friends,” he said.
