A video has emerged of a 2017 incident that depicts Glynn County police stopping and attempting to use a Taser on Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old man killed while jogging in Georgia earlier this spring.
The body camera footage, obtained by The Guardian, depicts an incident in which Arbery says he is “chilling” on his day off, but officers elected to question him and ask to search his car because the area is know for drug activity.
According to video and records obtained by the Guardian, an officer confronted Arbery in November 2017 at a park for sitting alone in his car in an area known for drug trafficking.
The initial officer at the scene, Michael Kanago, wrote in his official report that “veins were popping from [Arbery’s] chest, which made me feel that he was becoming enraged and may turn physically violent,” according to the Guardian.
“You’re kinda making me nervous,” Kanago told Arbery, according to the video.
Kanago confirmed that Arbery was not armed, but another officer attempted to use his taser on Arbery. The taser did not function, however.
The video will surely add to criticism of local law enforcement, which took two months to arrest of Gregory and Travis McMichael, the two white men who have been charged with chasing down and killing Arbery on February 23.
