Nacogdoches police officer Josh Anders was moonlighting as a security guard on Wednesday April 19 after dispatchers received reports of ongoing criminal activity at an apartment complex near Cardinal Street, police say.
Anders responded to the calls and approached a group of young women in the parking lot then requested assistance from on-duty officers, when he says several of the women refused his orders not to leave.
Meanwhile, Anders also claims he was conducting a trespassing investigation, Nacogdoches Police said on their Facebook page, even though he was off-duty.
After the incident, Anders eventually stated two of the women at the scene resisted his off-duty arrest.
But video does not show the women resisting any kind of arrest by a uniformed officer.
Anders sought medical attention for minor injuries after the incident, according to the police report.
One suspect was free to leave, but 19-year-old Lindsey Ogbonna was arrested and currently faces charges of resisting arrest.
A criminal investigation is now underway into the alleged assault on the officers.
However, an attorney representing the women said in a statement that Anders identified himself as a security guard, not a cop, and wore plaid shorts and and orange T-shirt.
“Witnesses to the incident questioned his true identity,” attorney Kim Cole said.
Several bikini clad black female students were returning from a pool party and were gathered in the parking lot when the officer approached, demanding who they were and why they were on the property, Cole said.
When the young women began to leave the area, Anders demanded they stay or be charged with evading arrest.
Video shows the women continuing to walk away.
That’s when Anders gets in the patrol car and drives closer to the group with his lights flashing, apparently pursuing the woman furthest from him.
Anders then exits the vehicle, “ripped the wig off her head, tore the T-shirt from her body, put her in a headlock and slammed her to the ground,” the statement said.
A pair of other women attempt to free her while asking who Anders actually was and for him to let go of their friend.
Officer Anders lets go of that women then slams Ogbonna to the ground, forcing her knee into her pelvis and exposing her breasts.
Anders then locks Ogbonna in a wrestling hold, the video shows.
As a result, Ogbonna suffered numerous injuries from the arrest and was accused of assault on a public servant, to make matters worse, the statement said.
“Neither of the brutalized young ladies had any clue whatsoever that this belligerent vicious brute was even a police officer.”
Ogbanna is a sophomore student at Stephen F. Austin State University, according to the Star-Telegram.
