Chief: Officers in YouTube Clip Did Their Job

Interim Chief of Police Carson Mansfield held a media conference Wednesday morning to break down a YouTube video that captured an arrest made outside a Salina bar last week.

The video clip, which has been viewed over 21,000 times, shows an arrest in progress, and then a second officer forcing another individual to the ground.

Chief Mansfield tells KSAL News that the officer made a decision in a split second, “I don’t know what he could of done differently,” he said.

“The officer threw the subject to the ground and then assumed a guard position to make certain no other individual from the group would jump on the back of the arresting officer.”

Police were dispatched to the Speakeasy Bar and Grill, 2030 S. Ohio on Friday night at about 11:30pm, after staff called 911 about a fight that had spilled into the patio area of the bar.

Several patrons were asked by management to leave the bar and the area near the front door. Police arrested 22-year-old Mitchell Vest of Salina for disorderly conduct and failure to comply with officers.

During the incident, the arresting police officer reported that he felt someone punch him in the back. Video then shows another officer forcing that individual to the ground.

Police are now seeking an arrest warrant for that suspect for 1count of Battery of a Law Enforcement Officer and 1 count of Obstruction of an Officer.

Chief Mansfield says he was proud of the way the officers conducted themselves, “You’re dealing with people who are already in a fight. You know they are prone to fight. So you have to take control of the situation, and some force had to be used here,” he said.

“I don’t know how you could use less force than he used.”

Here is the video. CAUTION EXPLICIT LANGUAGE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEWNl1nTU6Q