Mother 'devastated' over video of apparent violent arrest in Peekskill
PEEKSKILL, New York (WABC) -- An excessive force investigation is underway in Peekskill after a disturbing video appears to capture a violent arrest.
The video shows a man being tased, kicked and screamed at by an officer on Wednesday afternoon in Riverfront Green Park. The violent struggled continued for a minute and a half.
His mother, Barbara Simpson, spoke out to Eyewitness News on Friday.
"I was devastated because my son is a young man, he has some emotional issues at this time," Simpson said.
She said her son, 42-year-old Damar Fields, would not resist arrest.
Police were responding to a complaint about an individual in the gazebo. It is unclear how long Fields and the officer interacted before the struggle began.
Peekskill's mayor is among the many looking for answers - chief among them: was excessive force used.
"Extremely concerning...deeply concerning," said Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie. "Something like that can really destroy the trust that a community would have in their police department and there's no place for that kind of concern, there's no place for those kinds of activities within this community."
Fields, who grew up in Croton and is a father of two, is not currently in custody.
"Although he's going through the issues that he's going through, he never harms anybody, he doesn't steal anything, he's just not that type of person," Simpson said.
The officer has been placed on administrative duty, but Simpson says that's not good enough.
"I think he should lose his job because if he does that to my son, he'll do it to somebody else," Simpson said.
The Westchester District Attorney's Office is now investigating and the family is in the process of retaining an attorney.
Anyone with information about the incident, including video or witness accounts, is asked to contact Peekskill Lt. Adam Renwick at 914-862-1406 or by email at arenwick@peekskillpolice.com.
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