By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI is investigating a Rochester police officer after he was captured on video choking a handcuffed suspect.
The officer, a 27-year veteran whose name has not been released. was suspended with pay, the Democrat & Chronicle reports.
The FBI is trying to determine whether the civil rights of the dirt bike driver was violated by police when he was thrown to the ground following a traffic stop.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called the video, captured by a police body camera, “disturbing.”
“It does appear the individual was handcuffed and choked,” the mayor said. ” His civil rights could have been violated.”
The Rochester office of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office “have opened a civil rights investigation into the (April 14) Rochester police department incident,” said FBI spokeswoman Maureen Dempsey.
“The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner,” she said.
The arrest happened when police were responding to a large fight in the early hours of April 14.
Council President Loretta Scott, who viewed the video, said it sounded like the suspect was struggling to breathe.
The suspect was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
