BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
City officials and Cincinnati police are investigating the circumstances behind a home video that shows a Cincinnati officer spraying chemical irritant in the face of a woman who is handcuffed.
WCPO-TV (Channel 9) aired the video Tuesday night as part of a story questioning why Mace was used when the woman was handcuffed and appeared to be complying with the officer.
The video was shot July 25 by someone at downtown's three-day Ujima Cinci-bration, an African-American festival.
City officials plan to review the video to determine whether arresting officer Sgt. Jeff Butler Jr. acted properly. Police administrators also are reviewing the incident.
"It's too early to make a final judgment," said Tyrone Yates, city council's Law and Public Safety Committee chairman. "One can certainly say it isn't a pretty picture and needs to be explained. It looked inappropriate to me."
The woman, Nicole Garnes, 21, of Evanston, gave police a false name at the time of her arrest on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. She did not make a formal complaint about the arrest.
She said she was in a car with friends in traffic and she disobeyed an officer's direction not to blow the horn. She told them she had too much to drink and honked the horn again. She said the officer took her out of the car, put her against the car, handcuffed her and sprayed her with chemical irritant.
Her version differs from comments made on WLW radio by Fraternal Order of Police President Keith Fangman, who said Ms. Garnes swung at the arresting officer. He said on the air that "there was a SWAT team nearby - a Cincinnati SWAT team - that had to move in and physically hold the crowd back while these officers completed this arrest."
The video does not show a crowd or a SWAT team. But the video also doesn't show the arrest, when Ms. Garnes was Maced the first time in the middle of a nearby crowd. The arresting officer told Mr. Fangman he Maced her again because she tried to push away from the car, he said.
Mr. Fangman said he's furious at what he calls "a misleading play on words" by WCPO that makes it appear that he lied on the radio.
He said he stands by his comments that SWAT team members - part of the Critical Response Team that night - responded to a crowd of about 1,000 in the three-block area where Ms. Garnes was arrested.
He said he welcomes the review so officers can tell their side of the story.
