Witnesses claim deputies used excessive force during arrest of a minor at the Tulsa State Fair

TULSA — The arrest of a 17-year-old at the Tulsa State Fair has led to accusations of excessive force on the part of Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputies.

The video was posted online late Saturday evening (watch the video below).

It appears to show two deputies struggling with a suspect, and at one point, a deputy punches the young man in the head.

TCSO Capt. Mike Moore is in command of the deputies assigned to the fair.

He told KRMG it was complaints about the suspect’s behavior from the public that brought deputies to the scene in the first place.

“The information before deputies making contact was it appeared that he was intoxicated. The citizens went on to say that they had actually witnessed him drinking from the large vodka bottle, that was then put into the backpack of one of the females,” Moore said.

The teen used racial slurs against one of the deputies, he says, and continued to be “extremely belligerent.”

The vodka was found inside the backpack, at which point the teen tried to grab the vodka bottle away from a deputy and run, which is when the take down occurred, Moore added.

Parts of that struggle, he says, can’t be seen on the video making the rounds on social media.

“The individual had actually reached up into the inner thigh and groin area of the deputy and grabbed a handful of thigh and personal parts, and squeezed very hard, and twisted,” Moore told KRMG. “And the deputy was reacting to - in that moment - to what the individual had chosen to do.”

That, he indicates, is when the punch was thrown by the deputy.

Witness Tiffany Alexander, whose husband took the video, had a very different perspective on the incident.

She said in her opinion, the force used by deputies was excessive, and in particular she spoke about the deputy who threw that punch.

“He is literally holding his head down with his left hand, as he draws back with his right arm and punches the kid so hard that you see his hair fly back in the video,” she told KRMG. “At that point you see the kid go what seems to be completely unconscious.”

“He keeps his knee on his neck and keeps him pinned down, until he looks up and sees my husband filming,” Alexander said. “At that point, he immediately stands up and gets off his neck. He knew what he was doing was wrong, he just didn’t expect to be held accountable for it. And that’s the problem. That is absolutely the problem.”

Capt. Moore says the suspect was immediately taken for medical attention, and that the people treating him were much more concerned about his level of intoxication than any injuries suffered during the arrest.

He added that the incident will be reviewed by the TCSO use of force committee, as with any such incident involving deputies.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

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