NAACP calls for independent investigation of Metro Transit officer

Draon Armstrong still regrets not buying that $1.75 light rail ticket, an infraction that he says got him slammed to the ground by a Metro Transit police officer and thrown in jail.

A week after the July 8 incident, dressed in a striped T-shirt and a denim jacket, his hair in dreadlocks, the 21-year-old described what happened on the platform.

"He dangled me over the railing," Armstrong said of the police officer. "And he pulled out my hair, too, and my hair just don't pull out easily, so you got to yank it."

Metro Transit police arrested Armstrong for riding the Green Line without paying. Metro Transit on Thursday identified the officer in the video as Daniel Wallace. The incident report says Armstrong was booked for obstructing the legal process and fare evasion.

The NAACP of Minneapolis has called for an independent review of the incident after cell phone video was released to the FOX-9 news channel. The NAACP has refused to meet with Metro Transit, demanding policy changes by the Metropolitan Council, which oversees the transit agency.

"It's completely unacceptable," said Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the NAACP's Minneapolis chapter. "People of color ride the light rail on a regular basis and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

Armstrong, an African-American, and Metro Transit officials shared two different reasons behind the officer's actions.

Armstrong claims officers targeted him and a friend from the get-go, while Metro Transit officials say Armstrong didn't comply with officers' demands.

"For them to say that I wasn't complying with the officer I felt the officer already had a grudge against me," Armstrong said.

But Metro Transit Police Chief John Harrington said preliminary information, including the video, indicates the officer's action was justified.

"Taking him to the ground was a way of controlling the situation that would preclude the need for any strikes, any blows, any use of Taser, any use of any other weapons," Harrington said, "and would do it in a way that would minimize injury to the young man, to the public and would minimize injury to the officer."

Armstrong said he offered to pay the fare, but instead he was taken off the train and wrestled to the ground. He said he suffered a mild concussion and was told by a doctor his injuries could've been deadly.

Harrington said Metro Transit has reached out to outside parties for an independent review of the incident. Wallace, along with two other officers involved, Bret Fraser and John Steele, has not been placed on leave.