Newly-released video shows the arrest of a quadriplegic Miami-Dade man in an unusual case: He’s accused of hitting an officer with his wheelchair.
Bryant Amastha, 32, first told Local 10 News that the police got it all wrong. But the body camera video appears to tell a different story.
It happened May 1. Police responded to a dispute between Amastha, also known on YouTube as recording artist El Valien-T, and his mother at their home in southwest Miami-Dade’s Quail Heights area.
“I just hit you again, what the f— are you gonna do about it?” Amastha, who denied hitting the officer in the May Local 10 interview, is heard saying on the body cam clip.
According to a police report, when Amastha’s mother was arrested, he got agitated.
“Hey, stop hitting me with the chair, Bryant!” an officer is heard saying in the body camera video “Stop doing that. That’s battery on a LEO (law enforcement officer).”
Police said Amastha spit on an officer. He told Local 10 News at the time that he spit “in a totally different direction” because of acid reflux.
However, the video shows him spitting towards an officer.
Amastha also told Local 10 News he felt humiliated during his arrest because he was separated from his motorized wheelchair, which he says was damaged when it was put on a flatbed.
The body camera video shows an officer appearing to text someone joking that they were going to put Amastha on the tow truck.
Officers were later seen on the video inspecting their legs.
Amastha was charged with two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.
Another hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday.
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Source: Local10
