In the ensuing moments after Oklahoma police pepper sprayed an 84-year-old woman after kicking her door down without a warrant to arrest her son for running a stop sign, one cop tells another cop that “we can spin it” in order to justify their questionable tactics.
But Muskogee police are having a tough time spinning the incident considering it was all caught on body cam video.
And they will have an even tougher time spinning it with the latest revelations, which were reported today by Fox 23, the Oklahoma news station that first reported on the story a month ago after obtaining the body cam videos, and apparently finally got around to viewing it all.
Muskogee police and the city’s mayor are not saying much about the incident, saying it is under investigation, but Fox 23 did interview a couple of city councilman who are bothered by what took place on the night of August 7.
That night, Muskogee police were patrolling the streets when they noticed 56-year-old Arthur Blackmon running a stop sign. They said they tried to pull him over, but he continued driving until he pulled up to his mother’s home and ran inside.
Police knocked on the door for several minutes while voices on the other side of the door said they were calling 911, even though it is not clear if they actually did.
Police then decided to kick the door down, later claiming they suspected Blackmon had committed a home invasion and that they were just trying to keep everybody safe.
But once inside, they not only tasered Blackmon, they pepper sprayed his 84-year-old mother, Geneva Smith, after she refused to turn her head away from them arresting her son.
Both Blackmon and Smith were handcuffed and transported to jail where Smith ended up having a panic attack, resulting in her needing to be hospitalized.
Smith was not charged with anything, but her son was charged with driving under the influence, obstructing an officer, driving with a suspended license and carrying a weapon.
Smith is now contemplating filing a lawsuit.
UPDATE: Watch the four unedited police videos here.
