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Lawyer: Police should take brutality accusation seriously

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Lawyer: Police should take brutality accusation seriously

A video, uploaded Sunday to Youtube, appears to show a man being arrested. Police are investigating.
Alfredo Montanez Jr.
York, PA -
The lawyer of a man allegedly struck by city police said this morning he hopes police conduct a fair and open investigation to let the community know they are taking the allegations seriously.


The allegation came to light in a video posted on YouTube. York City Police Chief Wes Kahley said department investigators are examining the video and trying to find out what happened.


Attorney Clarence Allen said he hopes state police are asked to take over the investigation because it would give the investigation more credibility in the community.


"Don't give me a whitewashed investigation," attorney Clarence Allen said. "Don't pour water on me and tell me it's raining."


Kahley said the video was sent to police Monday.


"We really don't know what happened at this point," he said. "We're investigating the allegation and interviewing the people we need to interview to determine what actually took place."


Allen, at a news conference this morning at his office, said he doesn't want to condemn city police, but said the proliferation of the video -- it has been viewed more than 8,000 times -- has caused a lot of tension in the community and he hopes that can be relieved.


Kahley said that the video needs to be "cleaned up" to get a better look at everyone involved, and also needs to be examined to make sure it wasn't altered in any way.


He also said that police would like to speak with whoever shot the video.


"That would be very helpful and we're trying to identify who that person is," he said. "We'd really like them to come forward to provide us with a better copy of the video."


The video, posted to the site Sunday under the channel name "amonie212," is shot at night and is out-of-focus and jittery. The location is not identified, but vehicles in the video appear to have the markings of York City Police cruisers.


This is the video posted Sunday on Youtube. The poster, "amonie212," titled the video "police brutality."


Taken from a second- or third-floor window, the video opens as a group of police are gathered around a man who appears to be in handcuffs.


About 19 seconds in, as police are leading the man to a police cruiser, one of the officers moves suddenly near the man and someone on the other end of the video said, "He slit him."


The other officers in the video don't appear to react to the officer's actions.


The man cannot be seen as the officer is moving, but those leaving comments on the video were quick to label it an example of police brutality.


Allen identified the man as Alfredo Montanez Jr., 27, of York, a former state champion boxer. In June 2009, the York County District Attorney's office dropped murder charges against Montanez for lack of evidence. He had been charged in connection with the 2004 killing of 16-year-old Bart Rohrbaugh Jr.


Court records indicate Montanez was arrested Aug. 6 and is in York County Prison facing charges including illegal possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and resisting arrest.

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