Sheriff Rebuts Claims Of Abuse During Arrest Caught On Camera

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — A video captured on Snapchat with what looks like an officer taking a teenager to the ground has gone viral and triggered a formal response from the sheriff's office.

"A male on the bus actually pulled out a box cutter and was threatening someone with it," said Sgt. Anthony Prencipe with El Dorado County.

But all you see in the short clip is the arrest to follow, and quickly, the community took to Facebook, one person commenting it's "horrible how they attacked teenagers."

People we talked to can see why many are coming to that conclusion.

"You can take any snippet of any situation like I said and spin it however you want," said Kelsey VanFleet of El Dorado County.

That's precisely why the agency posted a picture of the Snapchat to its Facebook page with an explanation Tuesday.

"What people were saying happened was the furthest from the truth. We wanted to get out actually what happened," Prencipe said.

Deputies received the emergency call of a suspect threatening someone on a transit bus.

When they arrived, officers found two young men matching that description and during a search one fought back.

"The whole time the kid was actively pushing against him as well as just being defiant and not listening to his order to roll on his stomach," Prencipe said. "He believed that this guy had a box cutter on him and in fact he did have a box cutter on him."

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office believes transparency is important especially during this current climate.

"We have to respond immediately. It's just the way the nature of the beast with social media. The information is out there, so the longer that we wait, the more rumors spread and the more misinformation changes," he said.

They hope this sets the record straight.

As for the teen, his identity is being withheld, and he's been charged with criminal threats, resisting arrest, and narcotics.