Elonte McDowell told local news outlets on Tuesday, that he was just happy to be alive after being choked unconscious and tased by police in DeKalb, Illinois, on Saturday.

Video of McDowell's violent arrest was shared on Facebook by his girlfriend Alyssa Retuero on Monday and sparked outrage across the country. The state of Illinois banned the use of chokeholds during arrests nearly four years ago.

“It happened so quick. Looking from that outside in, that video is very disturbing to watch too. I’m blessed to still be here. To know that was me being choked and tased, that I took that amount of force by DeKalb Police Department," McDowell said, according to NBC13.

"I wasn’t trying to assault them, I wasn’t trying to hit them or kick them. I didn’t have any weapons. I had a cellphone in my hand to record for my safety issues,” McDowell added.

The DeKalb Police Department announced that the officer seen in the video choking McDowell has been "temporarily reassigned to administrative duties” and that an investigation into the incident has started.

McDowell and Retuero were pulled over near the campus of Northern Illinois University on Saturday by police who claim they got a tip about potential marijuana sales.

Police said they found "a felony-amount of cannabis" in the car and tried to handcuff McDowell before he tried to flee the scene. Four officers chased McDowell and as they were arresting him, one wrestled him to the ground and began to choke him.

In the video, you can see Retuero screaming as McDowell loses consciousness. While McDowell was being held unconscious against the concrete, another officer shot him in the stomach with a taser.

The officer who initially choked McDowell slapped him in the face and said, "You're okay, big boy. That's a nice fake," even though McDowell's body had gone limp and he had visibly lost consciousness.

Retuero begged the officers to check if McDowell still had a pulse, but another officer threatened to let the drug-sniffing dogs attack her.

"I remember waking up like in a pool full of sweat and my girlfriend telling me that she loved me and that she promised me that everything’s gonna be okay. And I remember the tasers just hanging out of my stomach,” McDowell said in an interview with NBC5 on Tuesday.

"I’m very jittery. I can’t stop shaking. My mom is in the back of my mind, my brothers… Eric Garner is in the back of my mind," McDowell added.

The DeKalb Police Department has tried to defend its actions by saying McDowell was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis with the intent to deliver, unlawful possession of cannabis, criminal trespass to property and resisting a police officer.

Local news outlets still question why the illegal chokehold was used and why a taser was needed considering McDowell was unconscious.

"If your fellow officer or fellow mate is doing something incorrect you need to be like, 'Hey! You guys just tased him or you're choking him. Stop that,'" McDowell told Chicago's ABC7.

McDowell has been released from jail, and in a lengthy statement, the DeKalb Police Department said they have contacted the Illinois State Police to conduct an independent review of what happened.

McDowell continues to dispute the police department's version of events, questioning how it makes sense that he would have willingly pulled over, yet try to flee the scene.

“In the video, you can hear me say, ‘I’m good! I’m good!’ If someone is trying to flee they aren’t saying that they’re going to hit the rocket boost the other way," he told NBC13. "If I really wanted to run do you think I would have pulled over for the cops in the first place?”

DeKalb-Illinois

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