The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Friday that it found no evidence that excessive force was used in the detainment of Seattle Seahawks star Michael Bennett during an incident after the prize fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Connor McGregor in August.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joe Lombardo also showed a body cam video from one of the detaining officers, as well as clips from several other videos, during a press conference announcing the findings.
Lombardo made clear that he was not denying Bennett's feelings about the incident, but rather defending the process by which his officers detained Bennett.
"Mr. Bennett has a valid perspective as a person who experienced a reasonable suspicion stop for a felony crime," he said. "Those who experience such a stop, especially when they have not committed a crime, are not likely to feel good about it. But there is a reason why officers are trained to do what they do and what they did that night."
Bennett had previously accused the officers that detained him of racial profiling and excessive force, saying he heard gunshots as he was walking back to his hotel after the fight, and that as he and others began to flee the area, police singled him out. Bennett ended up on the ground with police pointing a gun at him for "nothing more than being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
"A police officer ordered me to get on the ground. As I laid on the ground, complying with his commands not to move, he placed his gun near my head and warned me that if I moved he would 'blow my f---ing head off.' Terrified and confused by what was taking place, a second Officer came over and forcefully jammed his knee into my back making it difficult for me to breathe. They then cinched the handcuffs on my wrists so tight that my fingers went numb.
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"I kept asking the Officers, 'What did I do?' and reminding them that I had rights they were duty bound to respect. The Officers ignored my pleas and instead told me to shut up and then took me to the back of a nearby police car where I sat for what felt like an eternity until they apparently realized I was not a thug, common criminal or ordinary black man but Michael Bennett a famous professional football player. After confirming my identity, I was ultimately released without any legitimate justification for the Officers' abusive conduct."
After Bennett made the allegation, TMZ Sports obtained a video of a portion of the incident, during which Bennett was pinned to the ground by an officer and could be heard asking what he did and why he was being detained. Las Vegas MPD quickly denied his claims of racial profiling, and asked that the NFL investigate Bennett's "obviously false claims." NFL commissioner Roger Goodell rejected that request.
The video released by LVMPD shows Bennett pursued by two officers and eventually detained and then released, but the body cam of the officer that originally detained him was not turned on so the LVMPD could neither confirm nor deny Bennett's claim that the officer threatened to "blow my f---ing head off." They did say Bennett was told to put "his f---ing hands up" and "put his f---ing palms together." Lombardo also stated that the officer might face discipline for not having his cam turned on.
Bennett's attorney, John Burris, said he wants to review the video but that the clips shown by Lombardo largely support Bennett's version of events. "He was not acting improperly," Burris told The Associated Press. "He was not acting suspicious. He was not involved in any criminal activity. There's nothing to go on, no description, other than you see this big black man running. He was running like everyone else, trying to get away."
Prior to showing the video, Lombardo disputed the claim that Bennett was detained because of his race. "As you will see, Mr. Bennett's actions that night stood out to the responding officers. His movements to the officers were different than other patrons," he said. "Officers had reasonable suspicion to detain Mr. Bennett to ensure he was not the shooter or someone involved. The video will also show that the incident is not about race, as most of the patrons were also the same race as Mr. Bennett."
