According to multiple witnesses, Columbus, Ohio police officers became violent with a protestor on Sunday and went as far as pepper-spraying him and stealing his prosthetic legs.
A video was captured of the aftermath of the assault and was posted on Reddit. It shows a man without legs laying on the pavement while protesters call for a medic.
COLUMBUS, 21-Jun: Police struck a young man, knocking him to the ground and macing him before stealing his prosthetic legs so he couldn’t escape.
Video shows the aftermath, after demonstrators retrieved his legs from police. Calling medic… pic.twitter.com/Ud0yny6ylz
— Trump'sPissingMeOff 🌊😘👠🦸♀️🌊 (@RetiredMaybe) June 22, 2020
One local professor took to Twitter to describe the incident that was witnessed by her husband,
“Today in Columbus my husband was downtown at the protests & saw the cops hit & mace an unarmed kid and then STEAL HIS PROSTHETIC LEGS,” she tweeted.
Today in Columbus my husband was downtown at the protests & saw the cops hit & mace an unarmed kid and then STEAL HIS PROSTHETIC LEGS. https://t.co/4DRO4CS78v
— Laurenn McCubbin (@laurennmcc) June 22, 2020
According to the professor, protestors had to pry the prosthetic legs away from the cops as they got maced in the process.
For everyone asking: the protesters begged the cops for the legs back, cops refused. Then a group rushed the cops (getting maced) and were able to grab the legs back & get them back to the kid.
— Laurenn McCubbin (@laurennmcc) June 22, 2020
This kid, who was doing nothing but exercising his 1st amendment rights, was knocked over, maced, and had to flee from the cops ON HIS HANDS, to find medical help.
— Laurenn McCubbin (@laurennmcc) June 22, 2020
Police Sgt. James Fuqua later defended the action by claiming officers used pepper spray as a last resort.
“We did use pepper spray,” he admitted. “We absolutely used maximum restraint in using pepper spray as our last resort.”
RELATED: White Woman Launches Vicious Racist Tirade Against Black Student, Calling Her ‘N–er Ape’