NBC

Sacramento Officer Seen on Video Punching Pedestrian in Face

The officer said the pedestrian was jaywalking, but after a review, Sacramento police found no charges were called for against the pedestrian

A Sacramento police officer who was seen on video hurling a pedestrian who allegedly jaywalked to the ground and repeatedly punching him in the face will be the subject of a criminal investigation, authorities in the California capital said Tuesday.

The "disturbing" and unreasonable actions of the officer, a two-year veteran of the department, were not within policy, the Sacramento Police Department said in a statement.

The officer, who has not been identified, is on unpaid administrative leave as a result of the incident and will now be subject to a criminal investigation.

The department also released a second video of the incident, shot from a cruiser dashcam at a much greater distance than the video shot by a bystander that circulated earlier Tuesday. The latest video has sound.

The exchange on a residential street just after 5 p.m. Monday can be seen in the dashcam footage. The officer asks pedestrian Nandi Cain Jr. to stop for "jaywalking." Cain continues to walk away from the officer and is heard saying he was stopped "for nothing."

Cain then says, "I don't have nothing" as he removes his jacket.

"If you were a real man, you would take your gun away and fight me like a real man," Cain says to the officer.

The officer then lunges at Cain and tackles him, punching him repeatedly. Another officer joins the struggle soon after as Cain is handcuffed.

"I thought I was going to be like the next Trayvon Martin," Cain later told NBC affiliate KCRA. "I felt like they were going to draw a gun out and shoot me in my back or try to break my arms off or something."

The department said Cain was handcuffed for resisting arrest and for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant in Fresno County. Police said he continued to resist by kicking the inside of the patrol car and had to be restrained with a leg hobble.

But after a review, police found no charges were called for, and Cain was set free.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg also criticized the officer.

"I find the actions of this officer extremely disturbing, and they are not representative of the training nor the expectations we have for our Police Department," Steinberg said.

The incident began after the officer told Cain from his police cruiser to stop after "allegedly unlawfully crossing the street," according to the department. But Cain ignored the officer, the police department said.

Contact Us