Brandon Upchurch, a 38-year-old man from Toledo, Ohio, reported feeling traumatized after police mistakenly identified his vehicle as stolen and subsequently unleashed a K-9 on him during a traffic stop. The incident occurred on April 11 and was captured on body camera footage. The NAACP has criticized the action as "unwarranted" and "inhumane."
Upchurch was driving his cousin home from work when the officers stopped him, immediately drew their guns, and did not request any identification. Body camera footage shows the police repeatedly instructing him to exit the vehicle and get on the ground. Despite complying and questioning the reason for the stop, a K-9 was released on him as he began to kneel, resulting in multiple bites to his forearm and elbow.
"Man, I'm not even doing nothing," Upchurch says in the footage, then repeatedly asks the officers, "What did I do?"
Upchurch, who has been unable to work since the incident, vehemently denied that the truck's license plate was stolen. Officers later acknowledged a mistake in reading the license plate information.
"My elbow was already messed up," he told ABC News correspondent Ike Ejiochi. "I can't do anything."
During his arrest, Upchurch was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction. He insisted that the situation could have been avoided if the officers had rechecked the license plate. The Toledo Police Department and the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office have yet to comment publicly on the case. The NAACP has demanded a thorough investigation into the incident, highlighting its historical echoes of the use of K-9s against Black demonstrators during the Civil Rights era and emphasizing the need for proper training and accountability in police operations.
"This is uncalled for over a stolen tag," Upchurch said. "All they had to do was run the plates again and found out it wasn't stolen."
Link: ABCNews
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