on the street, I want to say, a total of eight-plus hours. And it was just a very difficult situation—the community was extremely upset. That’s when the police really started to take an aggressive tone and approach with the neighborhood. It was such a long day; I just was very frustrated. And on the expressway driving home I said to myself, “You know what? We need to start protesting. There are things we need to do.” So I decided that I was going to go out to Shelbyville Road—which is in one of Louisville’s most heavily trafficked areas, a white area—and I would do a protest.

About twenty people showed up. We’re walking down Shelbyville Road—it’s a major street, three lanes on both sides. So we knew that we were quote-unquote breaking the law, but we really believed in what we were doing. We understand that protest is civil disobedience. I remember seeing the police behind us in the distance. And because there was so much traffic, they were having a hard time getting to us. But the police finally got through, and they sped in front of me. They jump out—some are in fatigues. Others are in their police officers’ uniforms—and I remember there was a gentleman who screamed, “Get out of the road!” I took maybe two steps. And I remember he said to the other guy, “Get him”—something like that. Then, not even a few seconds afterwards, when the guy grabbed me—and it’s clearly on tape—he immediately starts screaming, “Stop resisting!” As a matter of fact, I had my hands up in a position that, you know, I am not a threat. But he grabbed me and said “Stop resisting.” I’m a bigger guy—so I’m 6'4", about 250. And I remember him trying to yank my arm down and trying to throw me on the ground. I’m not fighting against them but it’s pavement, so I’m not going to allow myself in that situation to be thrown down in that way. But before I can start going down on my own, they start trying to leg-sweep me, kicking my ankles. So I remember saying to the guy, “Hey, you don’t have to do that. I’m gonna go down.” I go down on my own, get on my knees. The moment I get to my knees, they push me down, face-first to the ground, really hard, and they put my arms around my back. One guy puts his knee on my legs, the other guy puts his knee in the top of my back. And from what it looks like on the video he took out—of course, I couldn’t see it—some sort of high-powered weapon, it might have been one of those Tasers—and he had it pressed to the back of my neck.

42