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| Greece, NY Police Sgt. James Carris assaulting Greece Olympia High School student. |
After multiple unsuccessful attempts in trying to reach Greece, NY Police Chief Todd Baxter, and him not returning my calls, I decided to go down a notch in the chain of command, and contacted Greece Police Captain Patrick Phelan, to see if perhaps he had any comment on the video of GPD officers yelling at Corey McCloud, an African-American Greece Olympia high school student, to "Keep walking!", on a public Greece sidewalk, before being arrested, on May 15th.
The video, recorded by a Greece Olympia High School student begins with a female Greece, NY Police officer yelling at McCloud to "Keep walking!"
A male GPD officer dressed in plain clothes, then yells at McCloud, "Keep walking! Keep walking or you're going to jail!"
"I'm not doing nothing", the young man is seen and heard telling the officer .
"You're blocking the sidewalk!", the officer yells.
McCloud then tries to explain to the officer that he wasn't blocking the sidewalk, and that if anything, the officer is the one who is walking towards him.
The angry Greece Police officer then says "Fuck it, you're under arrest!", and grabs the young man, twisting his arms, and bringing him down on the ground.
Greece Police Captain Patrick Pelan told me that plain clothes officer is Sgt. James Carris, and the female officer is Valerie Cutt.
According to the teen who recorded the video, there was a fight at the high school, that did not involve the young teen who was arrested.
"They followed us off the property, and then the undercover officer came out of nowhere", said the teen.
Captain Phelan sees it differently.
Phelan says that Greece Police were disbursing crowds, and that while most of the youths followed orders, McCloud did not.
"If he had walked away, he would have gone home", said Phelan.
Captain Phelan also said that Corey McCloud took on a "fighting stance."
"He was in a fighting stance, he had his hands in a fighting position, and he stuck his chest out", said Phelan.
I couldn't disagree more.
What I see in that video is bully, rogue Greece Police officers giving an unlawful order to a young man who was doing wrong, simply walking on a public sidewalk.
I also see a young man who tries to explain to officers that not only is he not doing anything wrong, but that in fact, it's them, who are walking towards him and it's them who are being confrontational.
"Fighting stance"?
Are you kidding me?
The young man is retreating, backing up, as he's being cornered by GPD officers!
If anything, I see a young man with his the palms of his hands showing, in a retreating manner.
In fact, never does Corey McCloud use any expletives, unlike Sgt. Carris!
Phelan said that McCloud was charged with disorderly conduct.
I asked Phelan, what exactly did Corey McCloud do in order to be charged with disorderly conduct, but Phelan said that he did not have the criminal complaint in front of him, so he could not say.
I find it interesting that despite Phelan being adamant that McCloud did not follow what he calls lawful orders, he couldn't tell me exactly what the young man is accused of, without reading the report.
When I asked Captain Phelan what he thought about Sgt. Carris telling a minor, "Fuck it, you're under arrest!", he did not hesitate in giving me an answer.
"The use of that kind of language is absolutely inappropriate, and we are dealing with that", said Phelan, before adding, "It is not acceptable, and does not comply with our professional standards."
However, Phelan would not say what "we are dealing with that." meant.
It doesn't surprise me that Captain Phelan is going to defend his officers' actions, and justify the arrest of Corey McCloud, I mean that's his job.
I will however say, that Captain Phelan was very professional in his conversation with me, something I don't usually experience with law enforcement.
At one point in our phone conversation, when I asked Captain Phelan, who said he had not watched the video, for the names of the officers, Phelan actially logged on to my blog, and I could hear the video playing on his computer, as he watched it.
After watching the video, Phelan immediately gave me the names.
That's more than I can say for Rochester, NY Police officials, who have given me a run around in refusing to release names of officers whom I have exposed, only for me to get their names on my own, anyways.
As for your comment Captain Phelan, that if Corey had walked away, he would have gone home, no sir, YOUR officers created, then escalated, a completely unnecessary situation.
Your Sgt., James Carris' own words to a minor, "Fuck it, you're under arrest!", and your Sgt.'s behavior, caught on video, show that he was out of line!
Click Play to watch video
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