A disturbing video posted on social media shows police officers violently handling a Mississippi man who was pulled over for speeding.
The video shows an unidentified state trooper and Robert Morton arguing about why the latter was pulled over, reports HuffPost. The incident happened on July 12.
"Why am I getting arrested?" Morton asks several times.
The trooper tells Morton he was pulled over for doing 101 mph in a 65-mph zone and tries to cuff him. Morton continues to question him and claims the officer switched his reason.
“How, when you didn’t tell me that? You didn’t tell me that,” the 34-year-old said as he moves away from the officer. The officer adds resisting arrest as a potential charge.
Porsha Shields, Morton’s fiancée who was filming the encounter, begs her partner to stay put while interacting with the officer.
“Please. Don’t do that. Just wait until somebody comes,” she pleads.
At one point, the officer demands Morton get on the ground and asks him to show identification moments later. Shields points out the contradiction.
“Now you want the license. You want him to get on the ground. What do you want him to do?” Shields questions.
Eventually, another officer arrives, but he only worsens the situation. Both troopers tackle Morton and violently throw him on the ground. At one point, Morton is choked by one of the officers.
Shields, who is four months pregnant, screams and watches in horror.
“Oh my goodness!” Shields shouts. “You ain’t gotta do all that! … Y’all supposed to be out here protecting us!”
The video went viral and has been viewed over 3 million times. Morton was charged for speeding, not wearing seat belts, failing to secure a child in a seat belt, disorderly conduct and failure to give the officer his license. He was released from jail after posting a $1,754 bail, according to NBC News.
The situation left Shields traumatized and saddened because her son witnessed it all.
“I truly felt that I should have never told him I was pregnant because it seemed like he became more aggressive,” she told Keyzz Entertainment Television. “And, what hurts the most is knowing that my 4-year-old son witnessed me screaming, crying and getting assaulted as this event will psychologically impact us forever.”