MARTINSVILLE, Ind. -- Martinsville police stand by the actions of several of their officers during a July 4 arrest seen in a partial video of the incident shared and viewed more than 60,000 times on Facebook.
The video shows several officers around Anthony Ventura after responding to what they said was a domestic dispute call. Three officers are on top of Ventura, keeping him on the ground, with one officer pressing his knee into Ventura's neck. (See a partial version of the video below)
A statement from the Martinsville Police Department says Ventura "resisted arrest" when he refused to obey officers orders, and he was subdued on the ground, handcuffed, and arrested.
The video Facebook post, which originally came from Ventura's mother Rachel Coffman, said that Ventura just got out of surgery and was pleading for officers to get off his neck.
Ventura can be heard yelling "you're breaking my arm!" and "you're on my neck!"
Coffman wrote that Anthony was not resisting arrest.
In the comment section of the post, Ventura's girlfriend, Tiffany Cox, wrote, "this is all over a 'disorderly conduct" nothing even happened."
The Reporter-Times obtained the probable cause affidavit related to the incident. In the affidavit, it says neighbors of Ventura and his girlfriend said they could hear her screaming, "Stop hitting me, your (sic) hurting me." They said she was screaming at Ventura to "give me my money back."
Neighbors said at one point, the girlfriend yelled at them to call police. One neighbor alleged that Ventura spit on him and threatened to beat him up, according to the probable cause.
Officers knew Ventura from previous encounters, according to The Reporter-Times.
Ventura began to complain that he did not feel well when he arrived at the Morgan County Jail, according to the probable cause affidavit.
He was taken to IU Health Morgan.
Martinsville Deputy Police Chief Matt Long released this statement about the video:
"Every video has a beginning and an end. This particular video does not show the beginning of the incident when the subject resisted arrest. Our officers performed their duties in a proper manner to protect the female involved as well as maintain the security of neighbors and the immediate surrounding area. We completely support our officers' actions and stand behind them 100."
Ventura's mother confirmed on Facebook that she only posted a portion of the video.
We reached out to both Coffman and Cox. Cox said she would get back to us, but we have not heard from either woman.
The Reporter-Times says Ventura was charged with resisting law enforcement, disorderly conduct, domestic battery and battery by bodily waste, all misdemeanors.
You can read more from the affidavit on The Reporter-Times' website here.
