New case of police violence against paraplegic black men shocks USA
Camera images installed in police uniform show policemen dragging the man from their car.
US police are investigating a video that shows a black man being dragged from his car by police officers while he repeatedly shouts "I'm paraplegic."
A paraplegic person is unable to voluntarily move the lower parts of the body.
Images from a camera installed in police uniform show police officers stopping Clifford Owensby in Dayton, Ohio, and asking him to get out of the car so they can search him for drugs.
Owensby, 39, refuses, saying he is unable to move his legs.
The Dayton Police Department says it is investigating the September 30 incident.
Authorities say police stopped Owensby because he was coming from a house suspected of drug involvement. Police say they found a bag of cash containing $22,450 (R$124 thousand) in the car.
Owensby has not been charged with any drug-related crimes.
During the incident, he repeatedly refuses requests to leave his car, although police say they will help him.
Owensby asks a police officer to call a "white shirt", meaning a superior.
"The thing is, I'm going to pull you out and then call for a white shirt," replies a policeman.
As frustration builds, the cop says, "You can cooperate and get out of the car or I'll drag you out. Do you see your two options here?"
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley described the footage as "very disturbing".
Civil rights groups say they are also investigating the incident.
"Pulling this man out of the car by the hair — a paraplegic — is totally unacceptable, inhumane, and puts a bad light on our great city of Dayton, Ohio," said Derrick Foward of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to The Washington Post.
Some defended the actions of the police.
Jerome Dix, president of the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 44, says the officers "followed the law, their training and departmental policies."
"Sometimes, arresting disobedient individuals is not pretty, but it is a necessary part of law enforcement to maintain public safety," Dix told the Dayton Daily News.
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