Tucson Cop Charged With Aggravated Assault On Handcuffed Man

TUCSON, AZ — A Tucson police officer has resigned after 16 years on the force and was arrested on charges of aggravated assault after body camera footage showed him hitting a handcuffed suspect.

Officer William Gallego was arrested Sunday following an internal investigation into an arrest he made Thursday. Body camera footage shows him forcibly hitting a suspect in custody in the head with his shin, the Tucson Police Department announced in a news release.

The incident took place just after 7 p.m. on Thursday evening when officers were called to the Roy Laos Transit Center on West Irvington Road due to a fight in progress. The fight had ended by the time officers arrived on the scene and they left. The officers returned an hour later after a security guard accused a man involved in the earlier fight of trespassing and wanted him arrested.

"After officers put handcuffs on the suspect, he became uncooperative and started to resist," police said in the news release. "The officers tried rolling the suspect on to his side, but he began yelling, kicking his feet and refused to give officers his name."

Gallego recognized the man from a previous incident and called him by his name, according to police. The suspect spit on Gallego in return, police said. Gallego then placed his boot on the back of the man's head before going to his car to get a restraint device, police said, though it is unclear what the restraint device was. As he walked back, Gallego appeared to intentionally strike the man in the head with his shin two times, police said.

Officers restrained the man's legs and he was booked into the Pima County jail on trespassing charges. The news release said he was not injured during the arrest.

Gallego's immediate supervisor reviewed the footage Friday and set off an internal investigation. Detectives found there was probable cause to arrest Gallego on one count of aggravated assault. He is now in Pima County jail.