The Las Vegas Metro Police Department released body camera footage Friday of Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett’s August detainment that was in contrast to Bennett’s claim that the police racially profiled him and used excessive force.
In the video, two Hispanic officers and one black officer can be seen identifying Bennett following the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor fight. At the time, there was a suspected shooter on the loose and Bennett was identified as suspicious after he hid from police inside a casino and attempted to flee the scene.
A distraught Bennett was detained, and although he had no ID, he told officers to look him up online on their cell phones to prove he was the Seahawks defensive lineman. The officers then let Bennett leave after determining he was not the shooter.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said the officers handled Bennett’s detainment “appropriately and professionally.”
In a statement on Twitter, Bennett wrote September 6, “The Officers’ excessive use of force was unbearable. I felt helpless as I lay there on the ground handcuffed facing the real-life threat of being killed. All I could think of was “I’m going to die for no other reason than I am black and my skin color is somehow a threat.’ My life flashed before my eyes as I thought of my girls. Would I ever play with them again? Or watch them have kids? Or be able to kiss my wife again and tell her I love her.”
Following Bennett’s Twitter post, the Las Vegas Police Union called for the NFL to investigate Bennett’s “false and offensive claims” of racial profiling, but the NFL declined.
Bennett has protested the national anthem throughout the season and even raised a fist after getting a sack on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brian Hoyer.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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