Hearing reveals bystander filmed Albany, N.Y. cop being assaulted by several men after he tried to make an arrest
By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist, Albany Times Union
Ronshaen D. Hall mugged for a camera, yelling “Keep me on camera!” while he and a handful of other young men allegedly dragged a city police officer into a South End alley Friday night and beat him, the officer testified in a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
City police officials confirmed that the Second Avenue assault, which sent Officer Christopher Smith to the hospital with bruises, cuts and scrapes, was recorded by a bystander. Police are not releasing many details about the recording, which was not previously publicly known to exist, other than to say that it was made by a private citizen who was not involved in the assault, said Detective James Miller, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.
Miller said detectives are reviewing the tape to identify more suspects. So far, Hall, 21, is the only person to be arrested in connection with the beating, which officials said occurred at about 10 p.m. Friday on the 100 block of Second Avenue when Smith attempted to arrest Hall.
Hall was apprehended early Sunday morning, allegedly while carrying a knife, for an outstanding warrant on an unrelated disorderly conduct charge.
Smith, who has been with the department working the night shift for 18 months, later picked the young man’s mug shot out of a photo array. Hall was charged with felony assault, resisting arrest and having an open container of alcohol. The officer testified that there were about five young men involved in the attack.
The quality of the recording, and whether it is digital or on videotape, was not clear late Wednesday. Police have not yet decided whether they will release it to the public, Miller said.
Police learned of the recording through their initial investigation, Miller said, and the unidentified person who made it voluntarily turned it over. Police do not think that person was involved in the beating.
“A lot of people have home videocameras and they carry them with them,” Miller said. “It just could have been circumstance that they caught that attack.”
The existence of the video came to light along with a more detailed version of the assault in a preliminary hearing Wednesday before City Court Judge John C. Egan Jr. to determine whether there was enough evidence against Hall to send the charges to a grand jury. Egan ruled that there was and sent Hall back to Albany County jail without bail.
Hall, a smaller man, scoffed and laughed while Smith gave the following account of the attack that he says has left him with bruises on his back, arm and face; scrapes on his knees; and a constant headache:
Smith approached Hall at Second Avenue and Moore Street and attempted to arrest him for having a plastic cup filled with beer on a public street. About two hours earlier, police had asked a group of young men loitering on the corner to disperse after receiving reports of fights in the area.
“I grabbed his arm at the same time I told him he was under arrest,” Smith said, but Hall broke free and walked briskly away, claiming he was on his way to his porch. Smith said he caught up to him on the porch of a home three houses away, again told him he was under arrest and tugged him from the porch by his arm. It was then that Hall began to resist and push away as the scuffle moved about 10 feet further down the block. Then the group of about five men, including Hall, shoved the officer into an alley between 187 and 189 Second Ave., the officer said.
“I tried to bum rush them; I tried to get out of the alley,” Smith said, afraid of being pushed further out of sight. “I got past three of them and got pinned against the corner of 189 Second Avenue.”
Hearing Smith call for back up over his radio, the group began to shout, “Let him go! Let him go!,” Smith said. The officer then followed Hall out of the alley and attempted to arrest him again, again grabbing his arm.
“That’s when he spun around, grabbed me by my waist like a hug and started pushing me backward,” shattering the window of a truck parked in front of 187 Second Ave., he said. Smith said he was then hauled to the ground, with Hall on top of him. Hall tried to get away, with two others trying to pull him free, but Smith said he refused to let go of the smaller man’s collar. Then the kicks and punches started landing around his head and face, he said, unable to say for sure who was punching and kicking him once he was on the ground.
“After I was kicked in the head, I released Mr. Hall and that’s when he started to run away,” he said.