Shocking Video Of Stockton Police Using Force On a Black Teen For Jaywalking

A deeply unsettling video out of Stockton, California is spreading around the Internet like unbelievable, depressing wildfire. The cell-phone footage, which was first uploaded by Evan Avendaño to Facebook on Tuesday, begins by showing a police officer restraining a black teenager with his nightstick as he screams "Stop resisting!" and the teenager can be heard screaming back "Get off!" A bystander can also be heard screaming "He's a fucking kid" repeatedly. According to multiple news sources, the incident began because the teenager, 16-year-old Emilio Mayfield, was jaywalking into a bus lane or something. 

Avendaño recounted his version of the events on Facebook: 

"The cop was telling him to take a sit but the teen kept walking to his bus but the cop kept grabbing his arm & the kid took off the cop’s hand off his arm so the cop took out his baton & that’s when I started recording because everything happened too quick. He didn’t have to hit the kid with the baton & no need to call about 20 cops. And as you can see his body cam is on the floor. Smh"

The 20 cops he is referring to are actually eight cops, who arrive on the scene as backup after Mayfield, who is in tears at this point and before was in the deadly and threatening fetal position, half-heartedly resists being handcuffed. It might as well have been 20 cops. Or 50. 

A rep for the Stockton Police Department spoke to Vice News, saying, “For safety reasons, the officer told the young man to get on the sidewalk. After the teenager refused to comply and used obscene language, the officer went over and a there was a scuffle.” A scuffle after someone refuses arrest is maybe understandable. Why half the Stockton PD decided to show up because an unarmed teenager was a little feisty remains a complete and utter mystery. Half of those officers eventually wrestle Mayfield to the ground, while the others sealed off the area.

The officer in question was wearing a body camera which was apparently knocked off during the altercation. There is no word yet if the footage will be released. Mayfeld, who told the local news station that he was "traumatized," was eventually released to his mother and received a citation. The two of them have reportedly met with the NCAAP, and the Stockton police are reviewing the conduct of their officers.