Video After The Jump
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A 71-year-old Black man in South Carolina was embarrassed and feared for his life when a police officer looking for teens who might have been breaking into cars held him outside naked and at gunpoint after he peeked out his door to check on the disturbance, the man said in a lawsuit.
Body camera video of the June 2019 encounter in Rock Hill shows Officer Vincent Mentesana cursing at Jethro DeVane and telling him not to close the door.
Mentesana orders DeVane to stand outside his home naked at 4 a.m., facing the wall, according to the video, which DeVane and his lawyer obtained through a public records request and released Tuesday. When DeVane asks what’s going on, Mentesana responds, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
The officer held the gun to DeVane’s head for 90 seconds as other officers looked through his home, according to the lawsuit.
“I did what the man said. He had the weapon. He could have took my life in a minute,” DeVane said at a news conference Tuesday with his lawyer.
Once Mentesana got the all-clear, he asked DeVane his name and told him why police were in the neighborhood.
Police did not have a search warrant for DeVane’s house, according to the lawsuit filed Monday, which claims gross negligence, emotional distress and false imprisonment. The suit does not ask for a specific dollar amount.
At the news conference, DeVane said he was embarrassed because there was at least one woman among the officers. He also said he feared for his life; that if he tried to close the door, grab some clothes or argued, the officer with the gun to his head would fire.
“I won’t get over it the rest of my life,” DeVane said.
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