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VICTORIA, British Columbia — A YouTube video showing a Victoria, B.C., police officer kicking young men outside a nightclub has prompted an outside investigation, police said.
Jamie Graham, the police chief in Victoria -- where the incident happened outside a nightclub March 20 -- said Calgary police have agreed to his request to conduct an independent investigation, The Calgary Herald reported.
A Victoria police spokesman told the Herald in an e-mail the Calgary police would review “the entire incident.” The video shows the Victoria police officer kicking two men who were on the ground.
Three officers had been arresting people after young men got into a drunken brawl, police said.
The 56-second video clip, shot by a bystander, has drawn more than 200,000 hits on YouTube.
The 9-year veteran officer involved, who has not been identified, was reassigned to administrative duties and Victoria police are conducting a criminal investigation.
The two men who had been kicked by the police were identified as Harpinder Kang, 23, and Tyler Archer, 19.
Both said they didn’t know the people involved in the brawl. Archer said he’d been attacked and asked for help, but instead got kicked by the officer.
The two men have threatened to sue and retained a lawyer, the report said.
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