Bodycam footage shows Michigan woman whose arm 'shattered' resisting arrest
By: Makayla Johnson, a 20-year-old woman from Westland, recently claimed that she broke her arm due to an excessive amount of force used during an arrest over a missing cell phone report. However, bodycam footage obtained by Local 4 allegedly showed that Johnson was resisting arrest. The video showed the woman being put under arrest, with officers asking her to "put your hands on your back." Shortly after, she was seen falling on the ground and yelling in pain.
While Johnson alleged that her arm broke from the fall, the officer involved in the incident claimed that she slipped. More recently, the police said that the body camera video showed Johnson was resisting arrest, Click on Detroit reported. Johnson shared that she initially contacted cops to help her get her things from her ex-partner’s house. However, she ended up facing criminal charges over a cell phone, which she was set to return after it was accidentally mixed up with her belongings.
‘I heard the snap’
Johnson has accused Westland police officer Shamir Garcia of breaking her arm during an arrest. The officer reportedly has a background in MMA and once competed in fights as “Bam Bam” Garcia. The woman said Garcia approached her right after she got out of her vehicle. “He approached me as soon as I got out of the car,” she told Click on Detroit. “I said, ‘Are you going to search me?’ He said, ‘you are under arrest,’ and then I am on the ground screaming in pain,” she added.
The woman alleged that her arm shattered after Garcia grabbed her, and she attempted to pull back. “I heard the snap. It sounded like someone broke a thick piece of wood,” Johnson shared. “I didn’t feel like I fell, though,” she continued. “I felt like I was thrown to the ground. I have a bruise on my back that feels like it was his foot or something, and I remember his knees and stuff being pressed into my body,” Johnson added. The officer reportedly tried to explain the situation before saying, “I slipped on this mud right here.”
‘Snapped her arm like a twig’
In the wake of the incident, Johnson hired attorney Greg Rohl to file a legal complaint against the officer. “You’ve gotten essentially a cage fighter for at least the last eight years fought men twice his size handling a 20-year-old female who snapped her arm like a twig,” Rohl stated. Meanwhile, the Westland Police Department addressed the incident by saying Johnson resisted arrest.
“We are aware of a recent incident where officers used force on a person actively resisting arrest,” the statement read. “The response to resistance led to an apparent arm injury, and the person was immediately taken to a local hospital by paramedics,” it continued. “The Westland Police Department conducts a thorough review in each and every incident of response to resistance, and this incident is currently in the review process,” the statement mentioned.
Garcia reportedly took days off after the incident, and the publication was told that investigators would interview him to hear his side of the story.