A police officer in Seattle ran over a man's head during protests late on Wednesday triggered by the Breonna Taylor case verdict. The incident happened as Black Lives Matter protests spilled on to streets after the Kentucky grand jury decided to clear cops in Taylor's fatal shooting.
A video of the cop rolling his bicycle on the unidentified man's head was shared widely on social media. In the video, the man — wearing a helmet — could be seen lying on the street in front of a group of police officers who peddled on their bicycles to control the protesters. One police officer rolled over his bike over the man's head flinging his helmet on the side. The officer then hit another protester with the bicycle.
The onlookers confronted the police officers asking "what was that" and "why did he [the officer] do that." The video went viral on social media and people questioned the Seattle Police Department's training method. The department released a statement saying they were "aware" of the video.
"[The] Seattle Police Department is aware of a video circulating on the internet that apparently shows an SPD bike officer's bike rolling over the head of an individual laying in the street. This matter will be referred to the Office of Police Accountability for further investigation," the police department said.
Wednesday night's protests led to the arrests of 13 people, according to the police officials. They were charged with property destruction, resisting arrest, failure to disperse and assaulting an officer.
Earlier in the evening, two police officers were shot in Louisville, Kentucky, after the Taylor case verdict. As many as 350 people gathered in the city to protest against the decision to not charge the cops in Taylor's shooting in March. Sgt. Lamont Washington said the injured cops were stable and one underwent surgery. The suspect who opened fire at the officers was reportedly taken into custody.
