Hide Transcript Show Transcript REPORTER: WHAT STARTED OFF AS A ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP FOR A SUSPENDED VEHICLE REGISTRATION QUICKLY ESCALATED INTO THIS. A RIO VISTA POLICE OFFICER BODY SLAMMING CHERISH THOMAS TO THE GROUND. >> OH, NO. OH, NO. >> WHAT CAN I DO AT THIS POINT? HE’S A POLICE OFFICER. AND I’M A BUCK 20, SO WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? FIGHT HIM? NO. REPORTER: THOMAS AND HER MOTHER DROVE TO THE SCENE AFTER HER SIBLINGS CALLED THEM TO SAY THEY WERE PULLED OVER BY POLICE. >> I HAVE FOUR KIDS IN THAT CAR, I WANTED TO MAKE SURE THEY WERE OK. REPORTER: THEY SAY THEY WANTED TO RECORD EVERYTHING ON THEIR CELL PHONES FOR TRANSPARENCY. >> I WAS SCARED, I’M NOT GOING TO LIE. BECAUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY, THAT’S A POLICE OFFICER, AND THEY CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT TO DO. REPORTER: POLICE SAY THEY DETAINED THE FAMILY BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT ALLOW OFFICERS TO IMPOUND THE CAR. THE FAMILY SAYS THEY HAD THE PROPER DOCUMENTATION. AND THOMAS STEPBROTHER RECORDED THIS VIDEO AFTER BEING DETAINED. >> JUST BEING PULLED OVER, I FEAR FOR MY LIFE EVERY TIME AS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN IN RIO VISTA. REPORTER: THE POLICE CHIEF SAYS THE FAMILY’S CELL PHONE VIDEOS ONLY SHOW PART OF THE INCIDENT. AND HE PLANS TO RELEASE THE OFFICERS BODY CAMERA VIDEOS BY THE END OF THE WEEK. THE VIDEOS ONLY SHOW PART OF THE ARREST. THE CAMERA MOVING BACK AND FORTH. THE POLICE CHIEF SAYS THOMAS PUSHED THE OFFICER AND RESISTED ARREST. AS HER MOTHER RECORDING THE VIDEO TRIED TO HIT HIM, WHICH IS WHEN HE TACKLED THOMAS TO THE GROUND. >> I END UP GETTING DIPPED LIKE A FOOTBALL PLAYER. LOOK AT MY BABY AND HOW BIG THE OFFICER WAS TOWARDS HER. WHAT HE DID WAS UNCALLED FOR. REPORTER: AS MOM AND DAUGHTER WERE BEING ARRESTED, THE POLICE CHIEF SAYS TWO OTHER RELATIVES WERE ALREADY DETAINED. HE SAYS THEY WERE TRYING TO BREAK OUT OF THE PATROL CAR BY KICKING THE DOOR AND WINDOW. HE SAYS THERE WERE SO MANY CONFRONTATIONAL FAMILY MEMBERS. THAT THEY HAD TO CALL IN BACK-UP FROM SOLANO COUNTY AND SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE. THOMAS JUST GOT HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL. >> MY HEAD HIT THE GROUND FIRST. I KNOW MY LEGS HIT THE GROUND HARD BECAUSE THEY’RE ALL SCRAP UP. REPORTER: HER FAMILY SAYS THEY WANT JUSTICE. >> I WANT TO SEE THE SAME AGGRESSIVE ACTION THAT HE TOOK WITH MY CHILD DONE TO HI I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM FIRED. REPORTER: WHAT YOU DON’T SEE IN THOSE VIDEOS, THE MOTHER, DESHAUNNA PAYNE, SAYS THE OTHER OFFICER TOOK HER DOWN AS WELL. POLICE SAY BOTH MOM AND DAUGHTER HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH RESISTING ARREST AND OBSTRUCTING AN INVESTIGATION. BRIAN: MARLEI, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THESE OFFICERS, AND THEIR STATUS TONIGHT? REPORTER: THE POLICE CHIEF TELLS ME THEY ARE NOT ON LEAVE. HE SAYS THEY BOTH HAVE BEEN IN LAW ENFORCEMENT UNDER FIVE YEARS. ONE OF THE OFFICERS, SIX MON Advertisement Investigation underway after Rio Vista officer body slams woman Share Shares Copy Link Copy The Rio Vista Police Department launched an internal investigation after cellphone videos surfaced showing an officer body slamming 31-year-old Cherish Thomas to the ground.Police Chief Dan Dailey said the investigation is looking into if the officer used excessive force during a traffic stop. The incident began as a routine traffic stop along Harris Drive on Sunday evening. Officers stopped a car for suspended registration, Dailey said. They detained all four people inside the car because officers said they refused to the exit the vehicle, preventing the officers from impounding the car. Thomas' family said they had the proper documentation and the officers refused to review it. One of the passengers, Tyrone Clayton Jr., called his relatives to come to the scene in order to record the incident on their cellphones for transparency. “Just being pulled over, I fear for my life every time as an African American in Rio Vista,” Clayton said. Clayton’s stepsister, Cherish Thomas, and his stepmother, Deshaunna Payne, arrived on the scene and started recording the incident on their phones. “I have four kids in that car," Payne said. "I wanted to make sure they were OK."Dailey said Thomas and Payne obstructed the investigation. Officers said Thomas pushed one of them as Payne tried to hit the other officer. Dailey said that is when the officer tackled Thomas to the ground.“(The) officer tackled her to the ground in order to gain control of her while his partner stepped in to take Deshaunna Payne into custody,” Dailey said in a news release.| RELATED | Rio Vista PD release body cam video of officer body slamming womanThomas said she did not push the officer. “What can I do at this point? He’s a police officer. And I’m (120 pounds)," she said. "So what am I going to do? Fight him? No. "Payne said she was not being aggressive towards the officers. “I wasn’t trying to attack them. He slammed my baby," she said. "I went in mother mode to protect my child. "Thomas returned home after going to the hospital on Monday. She said the officer slammed her head into the ground. She said she has suffered from headaches, sore legs and arms since the arrest. “I was scared. I’m not going to lie. Because at the end of the day, that’s a police officer, and they can do what they want to do,” she said.Her family wants justice. “I want to see the same aggressive action that he took with my child done to him. Yes, I would like to see him fired,” Payne said. According to police, Thomas and Payne have been charged with resisting arrest and obstructing an investigation. Dailey said the family’s videos only show a portion of the incident and he plans to release the officers’ body camera videos by the end of the week to “show the totality of this situation.”Dailey said a third car arrived on the scene with more family members who were “confrontational and uncooperative.” He said officers had to request assistance from the Solano and Sacramento County sheriff offices to deal with the crowd. He added that two other relatives who were detained during the traffic stop tried to escape the patrol car by kicking the door and window. They were charged with felony vandalism.<doc-sep>RIO VISTA — A controversial video showing a police officer body-slamming a woman who was suspected of refusing the officer’s orders prompted police to release their own body cam videos. Eight body-cam videos were released by police, who also posted a 12-minute, 36-second police video from one of them on its public YouTube page Wednesday. That video shows an officer slamming the woman to the ground. Video posted on social media taken by family involved at the incident went viral on social media after it happened Sunday. Police released the video in response to the original one, Police Chief Dan Dailey said. “Yes, that’s the reason,” he said. “We wanted the public to understand the totality of the situation that the officer was facing.” Police have opened an internal investigation into the “use of force,” as they do any incident with force, Dailey said. They arrested Rio Vista residents Cherise Thomas and Deshaunna Payne on suspicion of resisting arrest, obstructing or delaying an investigation and public intoxication. They also arrested Mea Thomas, the driver of the car, on suspicion of those two charges and felony vandalism. A passenger in the car, Mychal Ivy, of Rio Vista, was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and probation violation. The incident, originally reported by ABC10 in Sacramento, went viral when video taken from one of the family members, showed the body slam and was posted on social media. Police identified the woman who was taken down in the incident as Cherise Thomas. The confrontation occurred after police pulled over a car driven by a woman they identified as Mea Thomas. According to police, two Rio Vista police officers pulled over a car after doing a registration check and finding out it had been suspended two years ago by the Department of Motor Vehicles. When the officers double-checked and confirmed that the registration was suspended, he told Thomas that the car would be impounded and towed. She refused to get out of the car and told the officers they couldn’t tow her car, police said. The body-cam video released on YouTube seems to confirm this. As this was happening, two other people — identified by police as Deshaunna Payne and Cherise Thomas — approached the officers and refused several commands to return to their car and to stop interfering with the original stop. Body-cam video shows this interaction clearly. Payne and Cherise Thomas both pull out their cell phones, the body-cam video shows, and at one point, Thomas tries to casually walk past the officer, refusing his commands. When he tries to stop her, she pushes back at the officer. Body cam video shows a scuffle ensues and eventually the officer picks up the woman and slams her to the ground. Body-cam video shows Thomas trying to pull away and refusing commands. Payne also approached the officer, police said, at one point hitting him. Two other passengers that were in the car when it was pulled over were detained without incident, police said. Payne and Cherise Thomas arrived as officers were detaining the two passengers. Police from Fairfield and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office were en route as the scene played out, about 20 minutes away from the city in a remote location of Solano County, just past the Antioch Bridge. Check back for updates.<doc-sep>Screenshot : Sacramento Bee ( Rio Vista Police Department ) Police in Rio Vista, Calif., released body cam footage Tuesday of a traffic stop that ended with an officer body slamming a woman who wanted to know what was happening with family members detained during a traffic stop. Advertisement The Rio Vista Police Department moved quickly after cell phone footage of the body slam went viral, releasing eight body camera videos of the traffic stop just two days after it happened, reports the Sacramento Bee. The confrontation took place Sunday night, after Rio Vista officers pulled over a car with expired tags. All four of the car’s passengers were detained, SF Gate reports, after they refused to get out of the car, preventing officers from impounding it. As the situation escalated, one of the passengers called their family to come to the scene and record the officers. Responding to the call, Deshaunna Payne and her daughter, Cherish Thomas, pulled up in a second car. B ody cam footage from one officer show Payne and Thomas yelling at officers, demanding to know why some of the first car’s occupants had been arrested. They later go back into their cars briefly, emerging with their cell phones out to record the interaction. From the Sacramento Bee: As they start to approach the scene of the traffic stop again, the first officer warns them not to come closer. “Don’t come close to me,” the officer is heard saying in one of the videos. “You ain’t coming over by our cars right now.” Cherish Thomas responds, “I’m not by you,” as she walks alongside the officer toward the traffic stop. Video from each officer’s bodycam shows that the first officer grabs Cherish Thomas at this point, holding her from behind as she appears to attempt to turn back toward the traffic stop. The struggle goes in and out of frame on the second officer’s camera in the moments before the alleged slam, and the struggle itself obscures most of the activity from view on the involved officer’s camera. Payne can be held yelling, “You’re manhandling my daughter.” After a few seconds of grabbing Cherish Thomas, who is restrained with her hands behind her back but no handcuffs on, the first officer lifts the woman and appears to slam her to the ground with force. Advertisement Payne, having just seen her daughter slammed to the ground, rushes toward her, screaming at the cops to get off her daughter. A scuffle ensues between Payne and one of the officers; his body cam then goes out. Advertisement Payne, Cherish Thomas, Mea Thomas (the driver of the car that was pulled over) and Mychal Ivy were arrested and charged with a litany of charges, including resisting arrest , obstructing or delaying an investigation, felony vandalism, and public intoxication. On Monday, Cherish Thomas denied police statement saying she had pushed an officer. Advertisement “What can I do at this point? He’s a police officer. And I’m [120 pounds],” Thomas told KCRA TV. “So what am I going to do? Fight him? No.” Payne also denied being aggressive towards the Rio Vista officers. “I wasn’t trying to attack them. He slammed my baby,” Payne told the local news outlet. “I went in mother mode to protect my child.” Advertisement While Rio Vista Police Chief Dan Dailey said Monday the department had opened an internal investigation into an excessive force complaint, none of the officers involved in the traffic stop have been named, nor did he indicate that any had been placed on leave. Thomas, who went to the hospital Monday, told KCRA TV the arresting officer slammed her head into the ground during the arrest, and she has suffered headaches, sore legs, and arms since. Advertisement “I was scared, I’m not going to lie,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, that’s a police officer, and they can do what they want to do.”<doc-sep>
The Rio Vista, California, police department is looking into an altercation where an officer body-slammed a woman during what should have been a routine traffic stop. According to KCRA, Police Chief Dan Dailey said that the internal investigation will determine if the officer used excessive force during the stop. On Sunday evening, officers stopped a car with four people inside due to suspended registration. Officers claim that they detained the passengers because they refused to get out of the vehicle, which prevented officers from towing the car. The family meanwhile said that they had proper documentation, but officers refused to look at it. That prompted one of the passengers, Tyrone Clayton Jr., to call his relatives so that they could record what was happening. “Just being pulled over, I fear for my life every time as an African American in Rio Vista,” Clayton told the news station. Clayton’s stepsister, 31-year-old Cherish Thomas, and his stepmother Deshaunna Payne responded to his call, and showed up to begin taking video. “I have four kids in that car,” Payne said. “I wanted to make sure they were OK.” Dailey claimed that the two women were obstructing the investigation and became combative. Officers claimed that Thomas pushed one of them, while Payne tried to strike another officer. That was when, according to Dailey, the officer “tackled” Thomas to the ground. “(The) officer tackled her to the ground in order to gain control of her while his partner stepped in to take Deshaunna Payne into custody,” Dailey said in a news release. What the video shows, however, is the officer physically pick up Thomas as she flailed her legs, before slamming her to the ground. Loading the player... The family insists that they were not aggressive toward officers. “What can I do at this point? He’s a police officer. And I’m [120 pounds],” Thomas said. “So what am I going to do? Fight him? No.” “I wasn’t trying to attack them. He slammed my baby,” Payne added. “I went in mother mode to protect my child.” Thomas went to the hospital on Monday, saying that the encounter with the officer left her with headaches, sore legs and arms. “I was scared. I’m not going to lie. Because at the end of the day, that’s a police officer, and they can do what they want to do,” she said. Both Thomas and Payne were charged with resisting arrest and obstructing an investigation. Dailey said that a third car also showed up with more family members who were “confrontational and uncooperative,” to the point where officers had to request backup from Solano and Sacramento County sheriff offices. Two other family members, who were also detained at the stop, were charged with felony vandalism for trying to get out of a patrol car by kicking the door and window. As for Payne, she and her family are seeking justice. “I want to see the same aggressive action that he took with my child done to him. Yes, I would like to see him fired,” Payne said.