2017 video shows officer tried to stun Ahmaud Arbery
— More than two years before he was fatally shot in a Georgia subdivision, Ahmaud Arbery had a tense confrontation in a public park with police officers who attempted to use a stun gun on him after Arbery angrily protested being bothered and refused to let them search his parked car.
“You bothering me for nothing!” Arbery tells one of the Glynn County police officers whose body camera recorded the encounter on Nov. 7, 2017.
Arbery, 25, was killed Feb. 23 by a white father and son who armed themselves and gave chase after seeing the black man running down their street. More than two months passed before a video of the killing emerged, sparking an outcry. Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were then jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.
Attorneys for Arbery’s parents said the body camera video from 2017 shows Arbery being harassed by the same police department that declined to arrest his killers. The McMichaels were taken into custody after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case this month.
In the 2017 incident report, officer M. Kanago writes that he pulled up behind Arbery’s car parked at a park, because it was a “known area for drugs and other criminal activity.”
First obtained by The Guardian, the video released Monday shows Arbery repeatedly declining when an officer asks to search his Toyota. A backup officer arrives, and tells Arbery “don’t reach the car” and “keep your hands out your pockets.” This second officer then attempts to use a stun gun as Arbery raises his hands out to his sides. The device just clicks loudly; the officer later says it malfunctioned. Arbery complies with orders to get on the ground, and he goes to his knees.
At the beginning of the encounter, Arbery hands over his driver’s license and asks the first officer on the scene why he’s being bothered. When he’s told that the area is known for drugs, Arbery becomes angry. “Criminal activity? I’m in a [expletive] park! I work! What the [expletive] you talking about?”
The officer pats him down looking for weapons. “I’m not searching you. I’m checking you for weapons,” he says, adding: “You don’t have any warrants.”
Absent probable cause or a court-issued warrant, police generally aren’t allowed to search a parked car without permission.
Arbery was not arrested or charged with any crimes.
The officers let him go after about eight minutes. But he’s told he can’t drive off in his car because he has a suspended license. He walks away.