A spokesman for the Las Vegas Metro Police Department insisted that its initial review of police body camera footage shows that its officers did not target Seattle Seahawks player Michael Bennett because of his race.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill appeared before the media to report that authorities possess some 126 different videos covering the events leading up to last weekend’s momentary detention of Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett. But he assured the room full of reporters that Bennett was not racially profiled.
On Wednesday, Bennett charged LVMP officers with slamming him to the ground, holding a gun to his head, and threatening to “blow my f-ing head off” as officers searched for a possible shooter after last weekend’s Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight.
Late Wednesday afternoon Undersheriff McMahill said the incident began when an active shooter call was made to the department and officers arrived at the Cromwell hotel to begin evacuating casino guests while searching for a possible shooter.
The undersheriff said that officers saw Bennett crouching before he jumped up and ran from officers. The actions were suspicious, McMahill said. “Due to Bennett’s actions,” the officer told the media, “they believed Bennett may have been involved in the shooting, and they gave chase.”
McMahill said that Bennett was soon detained but only held for approximately 10 minutes. He was then released. McMahill also said that Bennett told officers on the scene that he understood why they acted as they did and that he had no problem with what happened.
The undersheriff noted that the department has a long list of video evidence to review before any determinations can be made.
“As of today, we know there are at least 126 videos associated with those cameras that we have to review,” McMahill said. “As you can imagine, it takes a significant amount of effort and time to review all the video and available evidence, but if the investigation reveals that our polices were violated, those officers will be held accountable.”
But even ahead of the upcoming investigation, McMahill claimed race played no part in the incident.
“I can tell you as I stand here today… I see no evidence that race played any role in this incident,” the officer insisted. He added that patrons of different sexes and races were evacuated from the casino but none were detained or treated as suspicious based on their race.
McMahill concluded his press conference showing the body camera footage of the sergeant in charge of one of the units that pursued Bennett. The video did not show the take down itself but did show the minutes leading up to Bennett’s detention.
McMahill promised that the investigation would be seriously entertained, but noted that it would be some time before any further information will be available to report.
The police representative did note that the arresting officer did not have his body camera on and that he did not know why the camera was not on.
The LVMPD released video showing Bennett’s brief detention previous to the press conference.
In the video, Bennett can be heard saying that he did nothing wrong.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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