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Buckeye pigs beat up grandfather?
Grandfather roughed up at Buckeye Walmart, shoppers say Nov. 25, 2011 02:25 PM Staff and wire reports Police in Buckeye are coming under fire for a video posted online Friday that shows a grandfather unconscious on the floor of a Walmart with a bloody face after police said he was caught trying to shoplift. The video shows 54-year-old Jerald Allen Newman unconscious and covered in blood after a police officer took him to the ground Thursday night. Officers in the video are shown trying to sop up blood as outraged customers yell expletives and say, "That's police brutality," and "He wasn't doing anything." Newman was booked into a Maricopa County jail on a count of shoplifting and resisting arrest. A police report offers conflicting accounts on what led to the incident: The arresting officer, whose name is redacted in the report, and several store employees and shoppers said the man concealed a video game in his waistband and caught the eye of store security, who alerted police. The officer said he attempted to take the man into custody but the man refused several commands and tried to pull away, prompting the officer to use "a leg sweep" to drop the subject to the ground. But several other shoppers, including a 15-year-old who said he shot some video with a cellphone, said the man was merely trying to shield the video game from others during a Black Friday event, during which upwards of 200 people were pushing their way and fighting over reduced-priced video games, according to the report. The man's wife and other witnesses say that Newman was trying to help his young grandson after the boy was trampled by shoppers, and only put a video game in his waistband to free his hands to help the boy. Authorities transported Newman to a hospital, where he got 4 stitches on the left side of his head, the police report indicated. |