A video uploaded to social media on Monday captured Hartford police officers brutalizing a man in an alley as horrified witnesses called out in the man’s defense.
The footage was captured and shared by [__Lashon Wavey Byrd__](https://www.facebook.com/lashon.byrd/videos/vb.100002229222866/844378955646404/?type=2&theater), who witnessed the entire ordeal. He maintains that the officers were hitting the man in the head with a taser prior to him beginning to record the encounter.
The video begins with the one of the officers holding the man as another officer hits him with his asp at least 11 times. The man is then thrown to the ground as two more officers approach.
> “They cracked that fucking taser on my nigga’s head and shit, I wish I would have caught that on the cam. I wish I would have caught that shit. Now my nigga gushing and leaking for no fucking reason…” Byrd laments as he is filming the assault.
A Connecticut police officer, who chooses to remain anonymous, offered his insight:
> “Hartford is rough this year. I think a study needs to be done on city cops vs. State and suburban cops. State cops deal with traffic enforcement and accidents so they are kinda robotic. City cops deal with a lot of criminals and tend to think everyone is a criminal. Suburban cops deal with a mix of people and tend to treat everyone equally.”
It is currently unclear what lead to this incident, or what happened following what we see in the video- including the condition of the man they arrested. We will update as soon as more information becomes available.
As of Monday evening, 550 people have been [__killed by police__](http://killedbypolice.net/) since the first of the year. Connecticut currently ranks in 48th place for the most police killings, with only one death so far this year statewide. The death was [__caused by a taser__](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database#david-werblow-222), and marked the 16th time since 2005 that an unarmed person has died in Connecticut due to a taser weapon that was fired by police.
There have been three unarmed citizens killed by police gunfire in the state in the past decade.
