Four OCPD Officers Suspended Pending Excessive Force Investigation

<p>The Oklahoma City Police Department is reviewing a cell phone video circulating on Facebook depicting their officers in a use of force incident during an arrest Tuesday night.&nbsp;</p>

Wednesday, May 3rd 2017, 6:51 pm

By: News 9


The Oklahoma City Police Department is reviewing a cell phone video circulating on Facebook depicting their officers in a use of force incident during an arrest Tuesday night.

Police say the four officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave while they conduct an internal investigation to see if the use of force was justified or excessive.

Cell phone video shows two undercover officers dressed in plain clothing, and two uniformed officers trying to detain Tabotric Dedrick, 34, of Oklahoma City.

In the video, one of the undercover officers appear to use knee strikes while three held down Dedrick during their attempt to place handcuffs on him.

News 9 is blurring the undercover officers’ faces due to their line of work.

Police say the knee strike tactic caught on camera is a defensive tactic taught to all officers at the police academy - and are only used on specific areas of the body.

 “It is believed that the person may have been actively resisting the officers,” said OCPD Captain Paco Balderrama.

Undercover officers were monitoring a suspected drug house in the area and saw a white Lincoln Town Car pull out of the driveway.

Police attempted to stop the vehicle, when they heard shots fired.

“At this point in time, we do not know whether he intended to shoot at the officers or discharged his weapon,” said Balderrama. “We don't know what his motive was exactly, but again we have strong evidence that he was in fact the shooter.”

Police say the suspect then led them on a chase in southeast Oklahoma City.

Police say they did find a gun inside Dedrick’s car.

Two of the officers did have body cameras, police say they were not turned on - even though their policy states they should be turned on during any arrest or during any use of force.

But the police policy also states body cameras can be turned off in order to protect the identities of their undercover officers.

“That particular policy is going to be reviewed” said Captain Balderrama. “I think this is going to be a pretty good example of a case where you would want the video.”

News 9 checked and Dedrick was sentenced to a five year suspended sentence in 2016 on a drug conviction out of Tulsa County. 

Dedrick has also been in and out of the Oklahoma County jail since 2001, on both drug related charges and for eluding police.

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