Two brothers who were arrested in what started as a peaceful protest on Long Island last week say a cellphone video shows that police officers initiated a contact that led to one of their arrests.
Tiandre and Terrell Tuosto marched through the streets on Friday with a number of other protesters in East Meadow. It is unclear what happened prior to Tiandre getting arrested but witnesses were seen asking Nassau County police officers why Tiandre was being taken into custody.
"Why did you put him in the car? What did he do, I'm asking you," one protester said in the video.
Terrell Tuosto kept on protesting even after his brother was arrested, but shortly after, he became the subject of a violent arrest that's now under investigation.
A video of the incident shows Terrell walking in the middle of the street alongside police escorts. One officer who was walking ahead of Terrell appeared to stop short and Terrell bumped into him. All of a sudden, multiple cops took Terrell down to the ground and arrested him as the ground yelled "Don't touch him."
Terrell tells NBC New York that he was arrested for disorderly conduct and obstruction of traffic, but he blames the police for initiating contact.
"You can see [the officer] moves his body backward to nudge me to make it seem like I was initiating contact, which was enough reason, I guess, for them to throw me to the ground and arrest me," Terrell said.
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County officials and the attorney general are investigating the incident but Nassau County Executive Lauran Curran said she stands by the arrest because the protesters moved into traffic.
"This safety precaution was met with strong opposition and resistance which resulted in the arrests of these subjects," Curran wrote.
A third protester was also arrested in East Meadow on Friday after a confrontation with police officers. Despite the arrests, the protests in the area have been peaceful.
The Tuosto brothers say they're looking into taking legal action against the officers for their arrests.
