A video leaked to social media shows a Hemet police officer beating a young man in a parking lot during an arrest that led to an investigation into the use of force by the Hemet Police Department.
The violent confrontation occurred near several shops in Hemet on Monday afternoon.
The man, who was identified by the police as 19-year-old Edmund Franklin, can be heard in the video as he informs the officer in an intense verbal exchange that he will remove his backpack. The policeman then beats the man and a scuffle ensues.
The fight between the man and the officer lasts for several minutes, and witnesses tell the officer to stop. The officer wrestles the man to the ground.
Hemet police said they were called to the area around 3:30 p.m. by people working at nearby businesses.
“Hemet police officers responded in a parking lot near Block 200 on East Stetson Ave. to investigate a complaint made by an alleged beggar,” police said in a statement. The first caller “told 911 services that the issue was getting aggressive with employees of a nearby company who asked him to leave.”
The man was told he had trespassed and must leave the area and if he returned he would be arrested, Hemet police said in their statement.
The man then left, but returned around 4:13 p.m., after which a worker from a nearby store called the police again and told the police that he refused to leave.
The police then returned to the parking lot.
“The first officer to respond turned to Mr. Franklin and tried to arrest him for trespassing when violence was used,” the police statement said. “Mr. Franklin was eventually arrested for trespassing, resisting an officer, and attempting to disarm an officer.”
Franklin has been jailed and it is not known if he has bailed him, according to Hemet Police Department Captain Glen Brock.
Hemet police said they were aware of the spread of the video on social media and were investigating the violent incident. No body camera footage of the incident is currently being released.
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