PHOENIX (AZFamily) — More than four years after the arrest of a former Phoenix police officer for using excessive force and assaulting a handcuffed man, the department has released new body-camera footage of the attack.
The department arrested Conner Wesley Orth-Smith on July 23, 2021, after prosecutors reviewed the body-worn footage and expressed concern about how the situation unfolded.
How it started
Officers responded on July 16, 2021, to Banner Estrella Medical Center on reports of a fight involving security guards at the hospital. In the bodycam, Orth-Smith arrives as two security guards appear to be restraining him outside of the hospital.
The video then shows Orth-Smith asking him to get up, but the man claims his leg is broken and he is heard saying that he “didn’t do nothing, man.” After a brief struggle and argument, the former officer said, “Let’s go, dude,” and both of them appeared to be heading back to the police car.
“Don’t lean up against me or I’m going to let you fall on your a**,” Orth-Smith said while continuing to approach the police car. The man, still handcuffed and believed to be drunk or high, is held as Orth-Smith asks if he has anything on himself that is dangerous or illegal.
It’s at this point that Orth-Smith asks security whether they were assaulted and whether they’d like to press assault charges against the man. One guard said they would like it considered a trespassing situation, but did claim that the man “grabbed at” his leg.
“Hop in the car. We’re gonna get you off the property,” Orth-Smith told the man as he entered the back of the police car and returned to ask more about what led up to the guards restraining him.
The hospital’s security guards then explained that the man was waiting to be seen at the hospital but had “barged” through a restricted area and needed to be escorted off. Seconds later, Orth-Smith returns to his car to turn on the engine and check on him.
“Listen, listen, you’re not in trouble,” Orth-Smith explained to the man.
A short while later, he tells dispatch that it wasn’t an assault, but a trespassing situation and shortly after, returns to his car.
“They do not want prosecution. Where do you wanna go?” Orth-Smith asked in the video. They talked for a bit, and then the man said he’s going to jail. “Jail? You’re not going to jail?” Orth-Smith replied.
Both of them continue in a back-and-forth as the man requests a mental health facility in Avondale, which Orth-Smith said wasn’t an option. Instead, he offers “CBI,” or Community Bridges, a treatment center in Phoenix.
“CBI or I drop you off on the side,” Orth-Smith said. “I drop you off the side of the road or I take you to CBI. Pick one!”
The man remains insistent, and Orth-Smith is now heard frustrated about the ordeal.
“Then you can walk your a** over there,” Orth-Smith is heard saying on bodycam. “Alright, I’m going to drop you off.”
They continued to argue. “I don’t f***ing care. You’re getting out of my car. I don’t have to do this s***. I’m being nice to you but you don’t understand that,” Orth-Smith said.
Orth-Smith continues driving and ends up on the edge of Phoenix city limits: 99th Avenue and McDowell Road. He then pulls around to the back of a gas station into a dirt lot.
“I do understand that, but you trespassed though,” Orth-Smith said before opening the door. “Get out, dude.”
The man said he was having trouble, saying he was stuck. “Alright, dude, you have five seconds to get out before I throw you out,” Orth-Smith said.
Beating captured on bodycam
At that point, Orth-Smith is seen on the bodycam footage pulling the man out of the police car aggressively as he was lying down in the back of the vehicle. The man ends up on the ground.
Both continue to argue. “F***ing stay on the ground. If you get up, I’m going to kick your a**,” Orth-Smith said.
A few moments later, the man grabs the door handle of the police car, and Orth-Smith says, “Don’t open that f***ing car door.” The man uses it to get up, then approaches Orth-Smith, and a fight breaks out.
“Get the f*** away,” Orth-Smith said, before the footage shows the man falling onto the ground. It’s at this point that Orth-Smith asks for paramedics and requests a supervisor. “He just got physical,” Orth-Smith said.
Moments later, Orth-Smith once again approaches the man, when the man grabs the then-cop’s legs and he begins repeatedly punching him with a closed fist and forearm.
“Get off me, b****,” Orth-Smith yelled. “Get the f*** off me.” The fight continues for a while longer as he tries to get the man to let go of his legs, then he begins kicking using his legs.
Backup arrives a short time later, and they use a restraint to keep the man from kicking his legs as they wait for paramedics to arrive. Two more officers arrived, and the man grabbed Orth-Smith’s fingers. It’s at this time that the man is asked to let go, and then Orth-Smith strikes him with his forearm.
Officers continue trying to get the man to get into the police car, still with handcuffs and a leg restraint. With the door open, the man grabbed Orth-Smith’s pants and was asked to let go. He didn’t, and then Orth-Smith hit the man in the head, causing him to hit the side of the plastic seat.
Ex-officer’s fallout
In the days that followed, the then-23-year-old officer was arrested and resigned. Then-Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said the officer’s behavior was “egregious, appalling and will not be tolerated.”
“Acts like these leave a blemish on the badge and affect the noble profession of policing, making it more difficult for the men and women who police with integrity and honor,” Williams said in July 2021.
According to the Associated Press, Orth-Smith was hired in May 2020. After graduating from the police academy, he was assigned to a precinct in west Phoenix months later.
The former officer was booked on three counts of suspicion of aggravated assault. His case was later dismissed after he completed a felony diversion program, according to court records.
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