Anaheim police cruiser hits Black Lives Matter protester

ANAHEIM, Calif. - It’s the hit that was captured live on social media, an Anaheim police cruiser colliding with a Black Lives Matter protester.

“It was a mixture of shock, anger and like, I really just got hit?” says Ty Bailey. 

Last Saturday, he was walking near Broadway and Harbor in Anaheim when he was struck by an officer who then left the scene. Bailey says, “He chose the option of running away from the incident as a police officer, that is what blew my mind.”

Anaheim police call it an accident and admit the officer drove away but only because of the approaching protesters. Sgt.  Shane Carringer says, “The officer did absolutely pull out of the intersection as the protesters approached but that was out of an abundance of caution for not only his safety but to de-escalate the situation for the protesters.” 

The department released footage that was captured from their police helicopter. 

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Carringer says, “We actually put our footage out there so that viewers can make up their own decision and see the entire incident in more context than was captured of that single point of view footage.” 

But Bailey says the footage appears to have been doctored. He claims the officer made eye contact before hitting him.

“You see them edit the video horribly to where you see the police car going straight and then it magically shows me in front of police in front of the hood,” says Bailey. 

Sgt. Carringer explains it like this: “Yeah, that’s from not having an understanding of how camera systems work. The camera system in the police helicopter when it zooms in, the way the digital works, there’s a flash on the screen, the video hasn’t been edited.” 

Anaheim PD says the case is being investigated by the Internal Affairs Division. 

Bailey says he’s planning on filing a lawsuit against the department.