Cop To Be Fired For Slamming Handcuffed Suspect: Philadelphia Police

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia Police officer will be dismissed after he was caught on a cell phone camera slamming a handcuffed suspect to the ground in July, Philadelphia Police announced.

According to police, Officer James Yeager, 26, and a four-year veteran of the department, surrendered himself to the Philadelphia Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit Friday, Aug. 4 as a result of an investigation conducted by the department.

At about 12:20 a.m. on Monday, July 10, at approximately 12:20 a.m., Yeager and other officers attempted to arrest a 21-year-old male on the 200 block of East Elkhart Street for narcotics, police said.

During the interaction, the male was actively resisting arrest by swinging his arms and kicking, police said.

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Cell phone video footage of the incident obtained by the office of Public Affairs showed Yeager in full uniform grabbing the male after he was handcuffed and forcibly slamming him to the ground, police said.

Yeager was also seen placing his police baton around the male’s chest, picking him up, and swinging him around, police said. This caused the male to strike his head against the side of a pool, according to police.

The male was subsequently taken to Temple Hospital in critical condition, police said.

Yeager was suspended by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross for 30 days with the intent to dismiss at the end of those 30 days, police said.

Image via Philadelphia Police