The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Friday that dashcam video clears a trooper of wrongdoing in an incident in McComb.
Eugene Lewis, of McComb, told he was assaulted by the trooper while he was handcuffed. Lewis' brother shot the …
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Friday that dashcam video clears a trooper of wrongdoing in an incident in McComb.
Eugene Lewis, of McComb, told he was assaulted by the trooper while he was handcuffed. Lewis' brother shot the viral Facebook Live video of the Aug. 5 incident. Lewis said he believes he would be dead if his brother hadn't documented what was happening.
The video appears to show the trooper grabbing Lewis, who was cuffed behind his back, and throwing him to the ground. Both men ended up in a grassy ditch, which is when Lewis said the trooper put his knee into his back.
"He stuck his knee in my side. That's where I got big, ole bruises over here. I was telling him, 'Man, get out of my side. I can't breathe, man, stop,'" Lewis said.
MDPS released the results of the investigation into the incident, along with dashcam video, on Friday. Tap here for the full statement.
Officials said Trooper Hayden Falvey tried to stop Lewis on Delaware Avenue after he was "traveling at a high rate of speed, passing vehicles on the right, not wearing a seat belt and speeding up to travel through an intersection after the light turned from green to yellow."
Falvey pursued Lewis until he stopped on a rural area of Schmidt Road. MDPS said Falvey smelled "a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle," and noticed that Lewis' eyes were bloodshot and glassy.
MDPS said the trooper determined that Lewis' driver's license had been suspended and he was driving without liability insurance.
"E. Lewis admitted to Trooper Falvey that there may be a burnt marijuana cigarette, or 'roach,' in his vehicle. He also admitted that he had smoked marijuana about 45 minutes to 1 hour prior to the traffic stop," according to a release from MDPS.
Lewis said the trooper put him in handcuffs while he searched his car and later told him he was being arrested for driving while under the influence.
As Falvey was searching the vehicle, Lewis' brothers pulled up to t..
