Man was assaulted by police officer at St. Louis market because man asked “what type of police officer was he”
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — Police are investigating an incident involving an officer and a customer in a local store from a week ago in which witnesses say the customer was assaulted.
The situation happened at Crown Food Mart of Vandeventer and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive on August 8.
Surveillance video shows the officer standing in front of the customer, Bryan Boyle, in line as both waited to buy things.
The clerk working at the time said the dispute started when the Broyle asked the officer, what type of police officer he was.
“What are you? That’s all I asked because I was interested in doing like private security and private bodyguard work,” Boyle said. “I just wanted him to point me in the right direction. He went a whole other direction.”
She said the officer seemed offended and tried to put Broyle in handcuffs.
Video shows when Broyle refused, the officer pulled out a taser and hit Broyle over and over in the head with handcuffs.
“That’s when he starts beating me in the face with his handcuffs and fists, with blood leaking down my face,” he said.
A clerk working at the time, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the officer wildly overreacted.
“The only thing the customer did was ask a question. It was just a simple yes question where he could have said, ‘I am an officer,’ or ‘I am a security guard.’ Like all you had to do was either answer the question or ignore the question and walk away,” she said.
Despite the trauma of the incident, Broyle said it inspired him to become a police officer even more than before.
“There’s people out there that actually want to protect their people, not harm their people,” he said.
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