MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A video of a black man being arrested for apparently walking in the street due to a closed sidewalk in Edina is going viral.
The video, which was posted on YouTube Wednesday, appears to show a plain clothes Edina police officer grabbing an agitated man who the officer says was “walking down the middle of the street.”
WARNING: Video Contains Pervasive Strong Language
“You can’t just put your hands on me!” the man said.
The woman who posted the seven-minute video wrote in the description that she passed a man who was walking on the white line of the street’s shoulder.
“There was construction and it was obvious that the sidewalk was not available right there so he was hugging the right side as far as he could go,” she said. “I went around him and noticed in my rearview mirror that an unmarked SUV turned on police lights. The officer pulled in front of the pedestrian to cut him off and proceeded to accuse him of walking in the middle of the street.”
The woman repeatedly tries to appeal to the officer as the man becomes more and more upset. The man is shown removing his coat, shirts and backpack in an attempt to get away from the officer’s grasp.
Another officer soon arrives and tells the man, “My partner told me you’re under arrest.” Both the woman shooting the video and a bystander claim the first officer never said the man was going to be arrested.
“You could have just showed him where to walk really kindly. You are the one that incited this,” the woman said. “He’s scared. People die in these situations, it’s scary.”
Edina Police took to Facebook Friday to address the video.
Twin Cities rapper and activist Toki Wright took to social media Friday to highlight the video.
“Here’s what happened in Edina, Minnesota yesterday when a Black man decided to walk around construction that was blocking the sidewalk. This is also a perfect example of how people get murdered. #MinnesotaNice,” Wright said.
Former Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds said on Facebook that she was “fuming” after watching the video.
“This is a prime example of the urgent need of police reform in our state and in this nation,” Levy-Pounds said.
Edina police are expected to release the police report sometime on Friday.
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