WASHINGTON — Fairfax County police say an officer’s stun-gun use in the arrest of a black man last week was legal and appropriate. A shaky 15-second video of the arrest was posted online, triggering an internal inquiry into the officer’s use of force.
Police say an officer used a stun gun during the arrest of larceny suspect Elton Corneal Cansler in Alexandria, Virginia on Sept. 24. Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler ordered the review this weekend, just hours after the video of the arrest surfaced online.
On Monday, police said the officer’s “discretion was appropriately used to deploy a form of a less-lethal force and in compliance with all policies and laws in this matter.”
On Sept. 24 at about 1:48 p.m., police say Cansler walked into the SunTrust Bank located at 6050 Rose Hill Drive in Alexandria and went into an employee break room. A manager in the room left and called police since no one at the bank knew Cansler.
Cansler walked into the bank’s lobby, took the manager’s sunglasses from his desk and walked out the front door of the bank, police say. The manager, who had yelled for Cansler to return the sunglasses, alerted the security company, which called 911 with a suspect description.
Around 2 p.m., officers observed a man matching Cansler’s description at a convenience store in the area. When an officer approached Cansler, the suspect put his hands in his pockets and said that he was the person who stole the sunglasses from the bank. The officer asked Cansler to take his hands from his pockets, which exposed a knife clipped to his right front pants pocket.
Cansler returned the glasses to the officer, who ordered the suspect to place his hands on the police cruiser to arrest him. Police say Cansler then turned away and locked his elbows to prevent the officer from arresting him.
The officer called for backup while he tried to hold Cansler against the cruiser, according to police.
As the officer demanded Cansler move his hands behind his back, police say “Cansler kept his arms locked and used his body to push back against the officer, assaulting the officer, and actively resisting a lawful arrest.”
The officer then backed away from Cansler, grabbed his stun gun and asked Cansler to comply with the arrest another time. When Cansler refused, and made “a forward movement with his hands,” the officer deployed his stun gun.
“The officer could not see where Mr. Cansler’s hands were going and had reasonable fear that Mr. Cansler was again reaching into his pocket for the knife,” police say.
A police supervisor arrived on the scene and offered to call Fire and Rescue units to provide any medical attention, but Cansler refused treatment. Cansler was transported to the Mount Vernon District Station to appear before a magistrate and later to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
The brief video that surfaced online caused a reaction amid news of many controversial police-involved shootings and forceful arrests.
Shirley Ginwright, president of the Fairfax County branch of the NAACP, says the video is concerning.
“I’m very concerned because the part that I saw was a black man with his back turned that got Tased,” says Ginwright.
Ginwright says a complaint had been filed with her office over the incident.
“I just thank God for the video cameras that are there that people can now put them on YouTube,” Ginwright says.
Cansler was released on bond on Sept. 25 and has a scheduled court date of Nov. 24, 2015.
Watch the full arrest video:
And listen to the call for service:
