Residents claim video shows cops using excessive force

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) – Boston police are looking at an iPhone video that Dorchester residents say shows cops using excessive force to arrest one of their neighbors.

The arrest happened Saturday afternoon on Maxwell Street.

Police say the officers were trying to stop the man from grabbing a gun, but one neighbor told the newspaper she saw the alleged victim get beaten up.

"I yelled, 'Stop hitting him,'" Dorchester resident Dahlia Roland told the Boston Herald. "They started punching him, kneeing him and he was getting a lot of hits."

The incident started when police saw a Cadillac leaving a school parking lot. Police ran the license plate and noticed the owner's license was suspended, so they pulled the car over.

Jurrell Laronal, 26, of Dorchester, said his license had been reinstated. "That's not right," Laronal told police. "I just got of jail and just got it (my license) back."

When police asked Laronal if there were any drugs or weapons inside the car, he responded by saying, "I'm coming from a funeral. I just got out of prison, I'm not going back."

According to police, "during the frisk, officers felt a plastic object inside the suspect's front pocket. As officers attempted to remove the object, the suspect responded violently and began kicking and punching the officers. Given the high level of resistance offered by the suspect coupled with the officer's inability to handcuff the suspect, officers called for additional units to respond to the scene."

Police said several neighbors with cell phones approached the scene and yelled at the cops, saying "we're recording this. Stop hitting him. You're being recorded."

Officers say they used open hand tactics and knee strikes as taught at the Boston Police Academy.

Laronal was placed under arrest and charged with Operating after License Suspended, Possession with Intent to Distribute Class A Drugs, Resisting Arrest and Assault & Battery on a Police Officer.

Cox Media Group