A police officer who was chasing a white suspect pinned a black man to the ground and placed a knee on the man's neck despite having no evidence that he was involved in any crime.
A lawsuit was filed against the town of Arlington, Massachusetts, and three of its police officers after a white officer threw a black man to the snow after chasing a white suspect.
According to the lawsuit, the officer placed a knee on Johnson's neck and pinned him to the ground. The officer pinned Johnson to the ground while the white suspect police had been chasing was left unattended.
According to the lawsuit, police violated Johnson's rights when they stopped him, searched him, handcuffed him and put him in the back of a cruiser before releasing him with no charges.
In an interview, Johnson said that he almost lost his job as a grants administrator for a hospital because of the incident.
Johnson said that he was wrongly arrested and searched because he thought he was the one who was chasing down.
Arlington Police Chief Julie Flaherty said in an email that police couldn't comment as neither police nor the town had been served with the lawsuit.
According to Johnson's lawyers, the officers violated several department policies. Mirian Albert of Lawyers for Civil Rights is one of Johnson's attorneys.
Everyone should feel safe in their own community. The type of police conduct that fuels the distrust between communities of color and law enforcement is what happened to Mr. Johnson.
According to the lawsuit, police were called to an Arlington hotel about a man who they thought was involved in the theft of TVs. The officer who showed the photo of the man to the front desk clerk said it appeared to be the same person.
The man escaped from the police when they went to the room to investigate. Johnson, who was almost to his home, saw the man jog past him before the man was yelled at by the man.
Johnson stayed standing even though the white suspect got on his knees. Johnson said that after that, Conroy threw him to the ground and pinned him down with a knee on his neck.
The suspect told the officer that he didn't know Johnson after he was put in handcuffs, according to the lawsuit. The complaint states that a third officer jumped on Johnson to help hold him down.
Police had a photo of the white suspect they were looking for, Johnson and the other man both said they didn't know each other, and nothing in the investigation indicated that there was more than one, according to lawyers for Johnson.
According to the complaint, Johnson was released from the hotel after the staff said they'd never seen him before. He was left to find his own way home by the police.
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