After video captured Freeport, Illinois police harassing a hospital patient, the city vowed to launch an investigation into the allegedly racially charged incident.

Shaquille Dukes said police officers and security racially profiled him during an intense encounter on June 9. The 24-year-old reportedly lived in Freeport for a month and was in the hospital for two days due to pneumonia.

Doctors allowed Dukes to walk outside on hospital property and get a little fresh air on the day of the incident. However, tensions came to a head when security approached him as he returned. The guard accused Dukes, who was still in his gown with an IV attached, of stealing the hospital equipment.

“He had gotten out of his vehicle and said, ‘What are you going to do, steal that and sell it on eBay?’” Dukes said. “I told him, ‘This machine is pumping fluid into my veins as we speak.’”

Video footage showed the confrontation in detail. Police arrived on scene around 4:40 p.m. and arrested Dukes, his brother and the man who recorded the incident.

Police claimed Dukes was arrested for attempted theft after leaving hospital property with the IV. However, Dukes argues that he was off the property because the security guard instructed him to head over to the guard's vehicle.

Officers reportedly had a hospital employee remove the IV before Dukes was arrested. The victim alleged his emergency inhaler was confiscated during the incident leading to more health issues.

“Eventually while I was being transported, I passed out and had a seizure,” Dukes told Rockford Register Star. “When I woke up in the back of the car, I had an asthma attack. I didn’t get my inhaler until probably four minutes later.”

Since the video began to circulate online, Dukes met with City Manager Lowell Crow earlier this week to discuss the incident , reported the Journal-Standard.

In the meantime, the city has launched an internal investigation.

Crow assured the media the officers will be investigated. Body cam footage will be used to help sift through facts and fiction.

“Each of the officers have their own body cam and we just review it from their perspective,” Crow said. “They actually turn them on right before they arrive on scene and it doesn’t shut off until the suspect is turned over to the county jail or put in our jail.”

As for Dukes, he is scheduled to appear in court July 11.

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