On Saturday, Instagram user @blueasdasky released a nearly five-minute long video she recorded of Hawthorne, Calif., police drawing their weapons on an unarmed black man.
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In the viral clip, she can be heard pleading for police not to shoot a man who identifies himself as William and asserts heโs actually the victim of violence at the hands of unruly police officers.
โWhy are your guns pulled on this young man?โ she asks.
โI ainโt got no weapons!โ he replies into the camera. โMake sure you add that they attacked me. At the gas station, they attacked me.โ
USA Todayย identified the man as William Ewell, 47, who was stopped by police for an alleged robbery-assault that reportedly happened June 7.
As the scene grows more intense, the woman eventually bursts into tears as she recalls her boyfriend suffering a similar fate (โThey killed my boyfriend in 2015!โ) and begs for police not to take Williamโs life.
โI donโt understand why yโall got guns drawn on him right now. Are yโall about to kill this man?โ she asks. โLike, look at these big-ass guns they got on this man right now.โ
Eventually, one of the officers approaches the woman and despite what sheโs just witnessed, attempts to assure her that the situation is under control.
โWe got a call about a robbery [โฆ] he seemed to match the description weโre just detaining him. Weโre not saying heโs a suspect [โฆ] try to relax. It says a weapon was involved thatโs the only reason he gets held at gunpoint,โ the officer says. โItโs just for our safety and everybody aroundโs safety, OK?โ
Since the release of the video, Twitter has been flooded by users expressing their disgust at Hawthorne PD.
Thankfully this situation concluded without the young man losing his life, but itโs scary to imagine how it might have ended had the woman not been there to document what was going on.
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