The Los Angeles Police Protective League, a union that represents more than 9,000 officers, is calling for the NBA to conduct its own investigation into last month’s incident between New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes and Los Angeles police, which resulted in Hayes’ arrest.
In a four-page letter addressed to commissioner Adam Silver and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, the police union alleges Hayes caused bodily harm to an officer, obstructed an investigation and repeatedly used a racial slur, which they said was the “N-word.”
The four-page letter was published less than a week after a cell phone video emerged showing an officer tasing Hayes in the chest while he was on the ground July 28.
In the 37-second video, the man holding the phone said he saw Hayes getting choked.
“Stop,” the man said, “Stop. Get your hands off him now. I’ve seen him choking.”
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the possibility of “force being applied” to Hayes’ neck. LAPD chief Michael Moore has said Hayes made a complaint “he could not breathe” and “that there was a constraint or restriction on his neck.”
Body camera footage from the arrest has not been released. An LAPD spokesperson said such footage typically does not become public until 45 days after it was recorded.
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: NOLA.com, Christian Clark
BCNN1 WP 