Police officers in South Carolina are facing legal troubles after forcing a 71-year-old black man out of his home naked and at gunpoint, while they were looking for teens who might have been breaking into cars.
Body-camera video of the encounter in Rock Hill, which DeVane and his lawyer obtained through a public records request and released on Tuesday, shows Officer Vincent Mentesana cursing at Jethro DeVane and telling him not to close the door.
When DeVane asks what’s going on, Mentesana responds, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
The officer held the gun to DeVane’s head as other officers looked through his home, according to the lawsuit.
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“I did what the man said. He had the weapon. He could have took my life in a minute,” DeVane said at a news conference on Tuesday with his lawyer.
Once Mentesana got the all-clear, he asked DeVane his name and told him why police were in the neighborhood.
Police did not have a search warrant for DeVane’s house, according to the lawsuit filed on Monday, which claims gross negligence, emotional distress and false imprisonment.
In his lawsuit, the man said he felt ashamed and feared for his life as officers threatened him at gunpoint after he peeked out his door to check on the disturbance, according to The Guardian.
Watch the video below, via ABC News:
