Black man films his arrest for ‘jaywalking’ in Cincinnati

“You are violating my constitutional rights… you are violating my human rights, you are violating everything.”

Cincinnati Police is investigating footage recorded by an African-American male accusing a police officer of harassment before he is arrested for jaywalking.

Charles Harrell, 29, uploaded the video to Facebook which starts off with him saying “this is what we have to go through in Cincinnati… harassment. Can’t even be a black man; enjoy your morning because the police is going harass you.”

“Walking down the street, cop just asked me ‘do I have a problem?’”

At this moment, Mr Harrell is stopped by the police officer, Baron Osterman, who accuses him of illegally crossing the road.

Black man films his arrest for ‘jaywalking’ in Cincinnati

The situation escalates when Mr Osterman asks Mr Harrell to “sit his stuff down”.

“I don’t have to sit my stuff down… don’t f*****g touch me, why are you touching me? I can get my ID out of my pocket.”

“You are violating my constitutional rights… you are violating my human rights, you are violating everything.”

Mr Harrell was arrested for a pedestrian violation, possession of a small amount of marijuana and resisting arrest on 6 February. He has pleaded guilty to the drug charge.

He posted the video on Facebook on 1 March and it has been viewed over 750,000 times.

Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police President, Dan Hills, said "Officer Osterman did absolutely nothing wrong. He should be commended for staying very professional while Mr Harrell became very belligerent."

The footage has caused controversy because Mr Osterman was involved in the police killing of a black male, Nathaniel Jones, in 2003. It was ruled that he used excessive force in subduing Jones in 2004, but he was later cleared in 2008 and awarded financial compensation.

The Cincinnati Police Department has released a statement since the release of the footage.

"We take all citizen concerns and complaints seriously. As such, the incident is under investigation by both the Internal Investigations Unit of the Cincinnati Police Department and the Citizen Complaint Authority, which provides a neutral, independent review of the incident.”

“We are committed to transparency and will provide further information once we have allowed both the criminal trial and the administrative investigations to run their course.”

On 4 March, Mr Harrell was also charged with contempt of court after a lawyer reported that he took photos with his mobile phone while inside the courthouse.

The prosecution and defence are scheduled to meet today.