The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has announced that it is going to look into the brutal beating of a Black man by Oakland police after he was confronted inside a home for an alleged traffic violation. The incident happened on Saturday.
According to NBC News, the video of the confrontation at the Oakland residence was recorded by a loved one. The officers who confronted Brandon Calloway are seen beating and tasing him in the video. The Black man was left bloodied in the face following the incident.
The video starts when the officers go after the 25-year-old Black man in the home. One of the police officers is seen hitting Calloway with a baton while another officer has a gun pulled out. During the physical confrontation inside the residence, a woman is heard shouting: “Stop, stop, Brandon, Brandon, stop! Stop hitting him!”
The video also shows the officers pursuing the Black man upstairs before a taser is discharged. “Why are you chasing and hitting him?” the woman is heard asking. “I need to call my mom. I need to call his mom.”
A third police officer later responds to the scene and assists the two other officers in their attempt to detain the man. The Black man is seen with a bloodied face after he’s taken out of the room.
Responding to the incident in an affidavit, police said officers attempted to stop Calloway after he ran a stop sign. The affidavit said Calloway “sped away”, hitting 32 mph in a zone that had a 20 mph speed limit. The document added that the officers turned on their lights after Calloway did not pull over.
The officers pursued Calloway until he stopped the car at a home and dashed inside. “This is my … house and I did stop for the sign,” Calloway shouted while he was entering the home, police said, adding that he also used an expletive.
Police also said the officers ultimately kicked the home’s front door as well as another locked door. Calloway was said to be in the locked room, NBC News reported. During the confrontation, the affidavit said an officer tasered Calloway while another officer hit him with a baton. He was subsequently detained.
Calloway faces a slew of charges including evading arrest, resisting, disorderly conduct, failing to stop at a stop sign, and speeding.
Responding to the incident, Calloway’s lawyer, Andre Wharton, told WMC that the Black man was unaware the officers had wanted to pull him over because their sirens weren’t immediately turned on after his alleged traffic violation.
“Brandon obviously was trying to figure out what’s going on here. Why are you guys following me? I’m not violating any law,” Wharton said, adding that he was trying to fathom how a traffic stop “turns into head injuries, hospitalization and significant pain and suffering.”
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— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) July 21, 2022
Oakland (TN) Police left 25-yo Brandon Calloway beaten & bloody, brutalizing him all for allegedly failing to stop at a stop sign and then running into his home. WHY did police have to escalate this situation w/ excessive force that could have turned deadly!? pic.twitter.com/JvSlAco6AD