Watch moment policeman grabbed female colleague by the throat after she tried to pull him off a black suspect (video)
A police sergeant in Florida, US, has been demoted to office work after he was seen on video grabbing a fellow officer by her throat and shoving her against a patrol car.
Police in Sunrise, Florida have shared body camera footage of an incident that took place on November 19.
Everyone in the video had their face blurred except for Sergeant Christopher Pullease, 46, a 21-year veteran of the force who assaulted a female officer.
Sunrise police men were detaining a suspect who was ‘verbally and physically resistive’ when officer Pullease came on the scene and got aggressive, Chief Anthony Rosa said in a statement.
Pullease then got into a verbal altercation with the suspect, who was already sitting inside a police car.
He pulled out a pepper spray and advanced into the patrol car’s back seat where the suspect already handcuffed sat, ostensibly to pepper spray him.
The female officer rushed to Pullease from behind and pulled him by the back of his duty belt, in line with the department’s policies.
Pullease then turned around while backpedalling as he was pulled, then put his hand at the other officer’s throat before pushing her backwards until she hit a nearby police patrol car.
Rosa said that Pullease was ‘inappropriate and unprofessional’ in the situation and added that he ‘unnecessarily elevated the demeanour of the suspect.’
In an interview with a local TV station, Rosa was asked why Pullease had not already been charged in the three months since the incident, with a reporter pointing out that any civilian who put their hands on an officer’s throat would face charges.
‘So there are some details of the investigation that I’ve not disclosed, that I’m unable to disclose right now, and if any of the information that comes up during the investigation rises to a level of criminal behaviour or criminal conduct, then we’ll address it appropriately,’ Rosa responded.
Watch the video below.
Florida @SunrisePoliceFL Sgt. Christopher Pullease caught on video grabbing young officer by the throat after she stops him from pepper spraying handcuffed suspect #BecauseFlorida: https://t.co/VcghOOtoJMpic.twitter.com/RIP9Ybvxss
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) January 14, 2022
