MAMOU, La. — The Mamou Police Department has released body cam and surveillance footage while conducting an investigation into claims of excessive force by one of its officers after an incident was caught on camera at Chip's Bar in Mamou on Friday.
The video that was posted on social media over the weekend involves an MPD officer and a woman who was detained after police attempted to clear the bar as it was closing.
The woman in that video told KATC that she went to the bar Friday after attending Mamou High School’s homecoming game. She says around 10:30 p.m. Friday night, she was told the bar was closing. Soon after a verbal exchange happened between her and the officer. She claims she was dancing as she walked out but was thrown down by the officer then maced.
The video on social media only showed what happened after police were detaining her while she was on the ground.
However, footage released by MPD shows what happened prior to the woman lying on the ground.
Body cam footage from the officer involved shows that the woman was asked repeatedly to leave the bar. The woman refuses to leave then begins to dance on the officer before the officer attempts to arrest her.
A struggle then ensues and both then fall to the ground.
Surveillance footage shows the same incident from a different angle where the police officer is seen trying to handcuff the woman before both fall to the ground.
According to Mamou Police Chief Brent Zachary, the officer in the video is a certified EMT and attempted to assess the woman to see if she was all right while she was still on the ground.
Zachary says that Acadian Ambulance was called and the woman was taken to the hospital. Zachary says that the woman refused treatment while at the hospital and then threw herself on the floor of the hospital.
Zachary confirms that the woman was intoxicated at the time.
"Upon completion of the investigation, it was determined that the officer acted in a professional manner," said Zachary. "There was nothing that showed that he did anything that he shouldn’t have done. He will be returning back to work effective tomorrow."
Zachary also said that the woman was not tased because MPD does not have tasers. He also confirmed that the woman was not maced while she was on the ground.
He said he was releasing the footage because he believes in transparency.
"I just want everybody to know that we did a thorough investigation and the reason why I’m putting out the video is to show that what I’m telling you what happened is the facts," Zachary said. "It’s not made up. It’s not a story. It’s the facts."
Here is surveillance footage released by MPD:
Here is the body cam footage released by MPD. WARNING: this video contains profanity, so viewer discretion is advised.
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