Three Lafayette police officers after under investigation for alleged excessive force incident

Three Lafayette police officers after under investigation for alleged excessive force incident

Has reached out to indiana state police to look into an alleged excessive force case.

The black man involved claims he experienced excessive force because of his race.

News 18's micah upshaw tells us what happened.

A warning to viewers, some parts of the video may be hard to watch.

M: (this( early morning incident on may 9th that now has one lafayette man fighting for racial justice after fighting for his life.

Nat: m: this incident left 46-year-old richard bailey in a coma for six days according to his lawyers.

He has now opened a criminal lawsuit against the three officers involved.

We were not able to hear from bailey but we did get in contact with his attorneys.

S: when the police encounter young black men, their reaction is completely different from when they encounter a young white man under the same circumstances.

M: lafayette police lieutenant matt gard says that night police got a call about a reported fight happening at a home on brampton drive.

When they arrived they found bailey, who they came to arrest for suspected battery and intimidation.

Gard reports, officers attempted to detain bailey but he resisted.

In the video, you can hear officers warn bailey they wl deploy the k-9 if he continues resisting.

Police report bailey was intoxicated during the incident.

F: there's no doubt in my mind that if he were not a black man, then he would not have been taken into custody that way.

M: attorney fatima johnson believes the officers had an intent to kill bailey.

F: if a dog bites your neck, its obvious what's going to happen.

The damage that he suffered was life threatening and they used that dog as weapon to put mr. bailey's life in jeopardy.

M: lafayette police chief patrick flannelly sent us a statement saying the k-9 was used to assist in the arrest.

He reports after bailey was detained, officers immediately provided medical attention and appropriate medical care.

He says the department will release more video and audio footage in the coming days.

Reporting in lafayette, micah upshaw.

News 18.

We will have more quotes from both police and both attorney's on our website wlfi.com.

We will also continue following this story as more information becomes available.