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Still no body camera video released after alleged BRPD beating
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BATON ROUGE - It's been two weeks since a man was hospitalized following an encounter with Baton Rouge police officers outside his grandmother's home. Despite repeated requests for the body camera footage, it has still not been released.
Roderick Veal is charged with disarming a police officer, resisting arrest, and being a felon in possession of a gun. During his arrest, Veal says he was beaten so badly he had to go to the hospital.
The WBRZ Investigative Unit finally received some details from BRPD, giving the officers' account of things.
An affidavit says on May 21 officers saw a gun in the car Veal was in and asked him to step out. They did a pat down and found drugs. When they tried to arrest him he "resisted violently" and tried to grab one of the officer's tasers. The officer fought back by punching veal in his mouth.
The affidavit does not say anything about why the officers stopped Veal in the first place.
"If my client's position that he was unjustifiably pulled from his car and beaten to the point that he went to the hospital is not true or unfounded or he did something to justify the police response, then please, show the footage and we can move on," Veal's attorney Ron Haley said.
Last week, WBRZ was told BRPD would not release the body cam footage because the incident was being investigated. According to Chief TJ Morse, he has not seen the video yet but does plan to view it later this week. He said there is an internal affairs investigation pending.
On Friday, BRPD released body cam footage of an incident that happened a nearly week after Veal's arrest at Liberty Lagoon where several fights broke out involving officers.
Morse says after he reviews the footage, he will release it to the public.
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