COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — An arrest caught on camera is going viral as the video makes its way across social media in the Brazos Valley and beyond, stemming from an incident with a bicyclist and the College Station Police Department.
According to the College Station Police Department Twitter Page, a bicyclist at University Dr and Nagle Street was arrested for Evading Detention, Resisting Arrest and Resisting Transport.
Wednesday, 34-year-old Jose Humberto Diaz Jr of College Station was arrested while riding his bike down University Dr. CSPD tweets say he initially stopped when a College Station PD officer initiated a traffic stop, but then continued riding.
"I heard and saw the police officer being like "You have a traffic violation... You need to pull over". I couldn't hear what he said back, but I saw them drive down around College Station kind of where Mcdonald's is and then back up towards where the coffee shop is," Corryn Scharff, a bystander to the arrest, said.
Scharff, a student at a nearby college, was studying for her finals at a close by coffee shop when she heard the commotion and stepped outside and started shooting the video, which has since been viewed over 150,000 times.
"One of our officers did utilize their department-issued electronic control device during this incident (the Taser was discharged once). Per department policy, an ambulance is requested anytime someone is tased. The man complained of pain and was transported to a hospital prior to being booked into the Brazos County Jail," CSPD shared with 25 News KRHD in a statement.
CSPD says the suspect evaded for about 5 minutes as he led the officer around Northgate before they ended up at the same intersection.
"From my point of view, I saw that he was being chased on a bicycle from a motorcycle cop and his lights were on, so obviously he needed to pull over, but he wasn't, so I am guessing the police called other vehicles because I saw the police officer in the car drive around and try to catch him, but he went around where the gas station is and got back and then I saw him. He stopped in front of the motorcycle cop and the cop just kinda tore him off his bike onto the ground," Scharff said. "I am really hoping a lot of people either have grace for the guy or for the police officers and know that police officers were doing their job, but also it wasn't handled in the best way," she added.
Scharff says, the situation could have been handled a little better, from her point of view, but she also saw where the need for safety was coming from.
"Police officers did not know what this guy had with him. He had a backpack. They didn't know if he was armed or if that was the reason why he wasn't stopping," Scharff added. "I didn't see him try to physically getaway, so I didn't see the need for a taser to be used," she added.
Scharff says from what she saw, the cyclist needed to be pulled over and says, as a bystander, she believes there are faults from both sides.
"It's not like I can pick a side and be like "Oh, he was completely in the right, because he ran from police, but then police shouldn't have been so aggressive," but they definitely needed to do their job and make sure that everything was okay," Scharff added.
CSPD says they are not participating in any interviews for this arrest. "While we only use force in about 0.1% of all citizen contacts, this is not a significant, critical, or otherwise unusual incident," CSPD shared with 25 News KRHD.
CSPD also adds, with any use of force, this incident will be reviewed up the officer's chain of command.
According to a GoFundMe page created by Diaz's sister, she lists her brother as a Marine veteran with a mental illness. The page was created Thursday with a 30,000 dollar goal.