Witness: Raleigh officers 'did what they needed to' to restrain 'noncompliant' man

Raleigh police said they are investigating an altercation involving officers that took place Friday.

Two videos of the incident that were posted to Facebook show officers approaching a man on Garner Road near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at about 11 a.m. Then the man begins to throw punches at officers.

The officers appear to hit the man with their batons and he is brought to the ground by several officers.

At one point in the footage, at least six officers can be seen holding the man down before the officers punch and kick the man in his upper body and head.

Bonnie Kidder, who filmed one of the videos that was posted to Facebook, said she believes the officers were justified in their actions, based on the man's behavior.

Kidder said she was stopped at a red light when she saw the man's car stop in the middle of the intersection. She said she assumed the man's car had run out of gas, until she saw multiple police cars approach the scene.

"That's when I pulled my phone out to record this because I knew, I said to my co-worker, 'something's not right,'" Kidder said in a phone interview with WRAL News.

Kidder said the man, who was not wearing a shirt or shoes, had exited his car and was walking toward the back of the vehicle, toward police officers.

"He was confrontational. He was very confrontational toward them," she said.

Kidder said she saw officers use a taser on the man at least once as they struggled to restrain him.

"They were hitting him as hard as they probably could and he didn't seem even phased by it. He just kept going, he was swinging at them. It was everything they could do to get him down on the ground," she said.

Once the man was on the ground, Kidder said it appeared as thought he attempted to bite one of the officers as they placed him in handcuffs.

"I heard them say 'quit resisting' and the gentleman was noncompliant, obviously," Kidder said. "They did what they needed to. I never saw any of the officers reach for their firearms. I think the officers handled it as well as they could, since it seemed like nothing was going to take that guy down."

Raleigh police said they have contacted the District Attorney's office regarding the incident.

The Wake County District Attorney's Office has requested all available video from the incident, including dashboard camera and body camera footage.

"I am in consultation with the State Bureau of Investigation and, once we have completed a review, will be making a determination as to what the appropriate next steps are," District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said. "We are requesting the community's patience as we go through this process."

Authorities said the man in the video was taken to an area hospital for treatment, but did not disclose the nature of his injuries. Police did not say why they initially confronted the man or what charges might be filed against him.

The Save Our Sons organization held a press conference Friday evening to call for the removal of all officers involved in the incident, and referenced an officer-involved shooting earlier this week in Raleigh.