A police officer was recently seen on video taking a teenage skateboarder down to the ground in Tampa, Florida, after the boy allegedly violated a city ordinance prohibiting skateboarding in the area and resisted arrest, for which he has been charged.
The incident happened Sunday just before 6 p.m., according to Tampa Police Department Public Information Officer Stephen Hegarty.
"It was just a classic case of resisting arrest," Hegarty told ABC News today. "Police had warned the teen about the city ordinance prohibiting skateboarding in the area, and yet, he decided to continue.
"As you can see in the video, the teen was pulling one way, and the officer pulled the other, so they both fell down," Hegarty said. "Thankfully, no one was injured."
But 19-year-old Sly Sullivan, who says he’s friends with the teen, says he "sprained his ankle and went to the ER after."
Sullivan told ABC News today that he’d been skateboarding with his friend that day.
Sullivan also said he had been videotaping the teen and a few other friends skateboarding to celebrate the teen’s 15th birthday when a police car suddenly rolled up. One officer can be seen tussling with the teen on the video before both of them fall to the ground."Obviously, when someone just grabs you without saying anything, you're going to flinch. So I guess they took that negatively as resisting arrest even though that wasn't the case at all. "
In the video of the arrest that Sullivan posted to YouTube, the teen can be heard yelling, "Stop! Help me! Guys, help me!" as police officers apprehend him. Another voice on the video can be heard saying, "Yo, chill! Yo, stop! What are you guys doing?"
"We got permission to skate this spot from the security guard and the police still showed up," Sullivan added in the description under the video. "The officer that threw him wouldn't give me his name or badge number. [My friend] ended up being charged with resisting arrest, and sprained his ankle from the take down. Officer E. Turner is the one who took him down. Winkowski was the officer associated with it."
Hegarty, the public information officer for Tampa police, confirmed that the teen in the video had been charged with resisting arrest without violence and violating a city ordinance prohibiting skateboarding in the area.
On the tape, one of the officers can be heard giving his name and badge number. The officers involved in the arrest were actually Officer Erik Turner and Officer Matthew Klimkoski, Hegarty added. He said that he was unsure which officer was the one who took down the teen.
The teen declined to comment to ABC News today, and it’s unclear whether he has entered a plea to the charges against him.
-----
