Ohio Police Probed As Video Shows Black Paraplegic Man Being Dragged Out of Car

Video shows police officers dragging Owensby out of his car by holding his hair and arms as he cries for help.

Image of a Black Lives Matter protest used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: PTI)

Owensby, a black paraplegic man who is 39 years of age, has filed a complaint with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) against the Dayton Police Department (DPD) after a body camera video displayed police officers dragging him out of his car by holding his hair and arms, CNN reported.

"They dragged me to their vehicle like a dog, like trash," Owensby stated at a news conference on Sunday, 10 October.

The incident reportedly occurred on the 30 September.

The police officers, however, said that they nabbed Owensby because they saw him leaving a suspected drug den that they had been surveilling for a while.

They also say they found $22,450 stashed in a bag in his car.

The video shows an officer asking Owensby to step out of the car, who refuses because he is paraplegic and claims that he needed help getting out of the car. After exchanging a few more words, two officers pull him out as he cries for help, the BBC reported.

Owensby's attorney James Willis said that he is going to file a civil lawsuit against the DPD.

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, said that "the video of this police interaction is very concerning" and while an investigation is underway, "this incident shows why our community-led police reform process."

The DPD's actions have been defended by some, like Jerome Dix, who is the president of Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 44, who said that the "arrest of noncompliant individuals is not pretty, but is a necessary part of law enforcement to maintain public safety."

(With inputs from CNN and BBC.)