Appleton Police Department patch. (PHOTO: Courtesy of Fox 11 WLUK)
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Newly released body camera video shows Appleton police officers’ view of a fight that has led to questions about their use of force.
“We at the Appleton Police Department recognize the importance of meaningful transparency and remain committed to providing accurate information regarding issues of public concern,” the agency said in a news release Friday. “We are sharing this body-worn camera and traffic camera video to provide our community with a full view of a recent use of force incident. We understand that when a short clip circulates online, it often raises important questions, and we want to ensure you have access to the full context.”
CAUTION: This video contains profanity and violence.
During the fight early Sunday morning outside a bar on College Avenue, a female officer punched a woman in the head multiple times. That woman posted a video of the fight on Facebook and said she was a victim of police brutality.
Her video shows the fight already in progress before the female officer steps in.
CAUTION: This video and its caption contain profanity and violence.
Appleton police said the officer’s punches were focused strikes that are a trained, approved part of the state’s defensive and arrest tactics system.
“These strikes are not punitive; officers use them only as long as necessary and stop once control is achieved, continually reassessing resistance, safety and the need for medical care, all of which occurred in this instance,” the release states.
On Friday afternoon, the Appleton Police Department released a video that shows the perspectives of four officers simultaneously. It also depicts overhead video from one of the city’s traffic cameras.
The department said when officers respond to an active disturbance, their immediate responsibility is to stop the fight as quickly as possible to prevent further injury to those involved and to bystanders.
Police said you can see in Officer Izabella Hruby’s body-worn camera video that she couldn’t see what initiated the fight. She only begins to react after it’s already underway.
Because officers are rarely afforded the opportunity to see what led up to an altercation, they must act quickly to stop assaultive behavior to ensure the safety of everyone involved. In rapidly evolving situations where individuals are actively fighting, refusing commands and physically holding onto one another, it can be extremely difficult to identify a primary aggressor.
The Facebook user, who identified herself as Talon Pack, said she suffered “a concussion, acute sprain to the neck, chest pain, costochondritis, contusions of both upper extremities, injuries of the lip and pending additional medical results.” She claimed another woman hit her first.
Pack alleged the officers treated her differently than the other woman involved, saying in her post, “Being that I’m a black woman involved in an incident with a white woman I clearly have to be the aggressor right?”
APD denied that claim, saying, “All we see is a fight in front of us that we want to separate.”
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