Kinston officials investigating after video shows police punching man on ground

The incident began Monday evening when an employee of the Little Caesar's pizzeria on West Vernon Avenue triggered a silent alarm. When police arrived, the employee reported that 36-year-old David Bruton Jr. had made threats.

As police approached, Bruton ran, and a witness told WRAL News on Tuesday that she watched officers tackle him and then punch him repeatedly.

"I think there was two cops that caught him, and then one other cop came," Arin Ray said. "One of the cops was just beating on him, wailing on his face."

A video Ray took showed at least four punches.

"It's sad that we do have to stand by and watch and make sure that nothing is going to happen, nothing bad is going to happen," Ray said.

A police report states that Bruton stopped running at one point to take "an aggressive fighting stance" against officers before taking off again. When he finally tripped and fell to the ground, the report states, he kicked an officer in the stomach.

He was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting, obstructing or delaying an officer and assault on a law enforcement officer and released on bond.

Bruton's parents said he was diagnosed with mental illness and schizophrenia as a teenager. They said police have had several encounters with him before, including times when the family would call them after he became unruly at home.

Because of his struggles with mental illness, his parents say they haven't seen Bruton since January, and they want him to get help.

"I was very, very disturbed and very outraged within my spirit to see such an incident to take place here in Kinston," said Barbara Sutton, president of the Lenoir County chapter of the NAACP.

Sutton said that, after receiving dozens of calls from people about the incident, she discussed it with both Police Chief Tim Dilday and City Manager Tony Sears. She said she wants the video from the officers' body-worn cameras to be released.

"What we want is a thorough investigation, and also we want transparency," she said. "Not only that, but we want someone to show us that what we saw on that video is not what we saw. Because if what we saw is what we saw, that is considered excessive force."

Both Sears and Dilday promised a thorough investigation during a Tuesday evening news conference.

"There is much more here thna meets the eye," Sears said. "The city of Kinston wants to be fair to everyone involved – Mr. Bruton, the officers involved and the citizens of the city of Kinston."

"We ask that this interaction, as well as our response as a city, be based on circumstances specific to this incident, as well as your city government's ongoing efforts to unify our community during these troubling times," Dilday said.

Sutton said Sears told her that Bruton was treated by EMS for cuts after the incident.