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PHOENIX - A Phoenix Police officer who resigned after being accused of assaulting a man in handcuffs is seen on newly released body camera footage striking the man multiple times.
What we know:
It took four years for the footage to be released, but on Wednesday, FOX 10 obtained the video of the 2021 incident involving then-probationary officer Conner Orth-Smith.
On July 16, 2021, Orth-Smith, then 23, responded to a trespassing call at a local hospital where security guards had a man on the ground. Orth-Smith helped place the man in handcuffs and offered to give him a ride off the property instead of pursuing prosecution.
The man, who the officer believed to be drunk, was placed in the back of the squad car.
"I'm not here to argue with you," Orth-Smith is heard saying on the body camera footage. "I'm here to get you off the property. They don't want prosecution. Where do you want to get dropped off at?"
Tension built as the man asked to be taken to a mental institution in Avondale, which Orth-Smith refused. The officer eventually pulled over at a gas station near 99th Avenue and McDowell Road.
"So you can either get out of my car the easy way or you're getting your a-- beat," Orth-Smith said. "Get the f--- out. Get the f--- out, dude. Get out!"
Orth-Smith is seen grabbing the man and pulling him out of the vehicle, where he falls to the ground.
The officer uncuffs him, and the man gets up and walks toward him. Orth-Smith then calls for backup and a supervisor before returning to the man and striking him in the head.
The man is placed in handcuffs again and held down, where he is beaten again.
What ended up happening?:
At the time, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said the behavior captured on camera was "appalling."
"The behavior captured on the body-worn camera in this instance is egregious, appalling and will not be tolerated," Williams previously said.
Orth-Smith was arrested and resigned shortly after, but the case was eventually dismissed after he completed the Maricopa County Attorney's felony diversion program.
FOX 10 requested the body camera footage shortly after the 2021 incident but did not receive it for four years, likely due to a backlog in the Phoenix Police Department's Public Records.
Delays like this are not uncommon for records requests at large law enforcement agencies.