From [HERE] The white Ohio police officer caught on camera kicking a Black man in the head while he was pinned to the ground has been fired.
Video of Columbus Officer Zachary Rosen posted on YouTube shows him kicking Demarko Anderson, who was being held by another cop on April 8.
The blow smacked the 22-year-old’s head into the pavement, and the video shows Rosen kneeling on top of Anderson, who was allegedly threatening to shoot people, until other officers arrive.
The local Fraternal Order of Police announced his firing on Monday, trying to explain his alleged brutality by saying that a “man with a gun” call is “one of the most dangerous and heart-pounding calls an officer ever gets.”
“As he approached, Officer Rosen saw that the gunman was not yet fully subdued and was actively resisting arrest. Police officers are trained to act quickly and with all the force necessary to make sure no one gets shot by the gunman in these circumstances,” it said in a statement to WCMH.
Immediate supervisors for Rosen, who was involved in a controversial shooting death in 2016 but not indicted by a grand jury, had said that he acted in line with department policies.
Rosen was removed from patrol after the arrest, and an investigation from Columbus deputy chief last month recommended that he be suspended.
The city’s mayor, Andrew Ginther, said in a statement that he supported the decision to fire Rosen, made by Director of Public Safety Ned Pettus.