Recorded on body cam video punching a handcuffed man in custody, a Philadelphia police sergeant was recently arrested and charged with assault, obstruction, and tampering with records after attempting to cover up the attack.
On June 8, Philadelphia Police Sgt. Jason Reid placed Ronald Wallace in handcuffs in the back of a police car. According to police body cam footage, Sgt. Reid held Wallace’s head with one hand while punching him in the face with the other hand.
After arresting Wallace for threatening an officer and resisting arrest, Reid allegedly wrote a false report stating that Wallace sustained his injuries by repeatedly slamming his own head against the police car’s window.
“It is disheartening any time an officer entrusted with enormous power over the public’s liberty and lives misuses that power. The actions Sergeant Jason Reid is alleged by his colleagues in the Philadelphia Police Department to have taken against an innocent member of our community are exactly the sort of actions that undermine trust in law enforcement and make us all less safe,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a recent statement. “I am grateful to the Internal Affairs Unit of the Philadelphia Police Department for honoring their oath by holding one of their own accountable. No one is above the law.”
After an internal affairs investigation determined that Reid’s statements on which charges were filed against the civilian were not accurate, Reid was arrested Wednesday and charged with Tampering with Public Records or Information, Unsworn Falsification to Authorities, Simple Assault, False Reports to Law Enforcement Authorities, and Obstructing Administration of Law or Other Government Function. The 16-year veteran has reportedly been suspended for 30 days with the intent to dismiss at the end of those 30 days.
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