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A video circulating on social media shows Santa Monica police officers violently detaining a 29-year-old man believed to be homeless.

Santa Monica Police Department officers struggling with a man on the ground and then striking him on the head while the man yelled for help. The suspect claimed that his leg was broken after the officer struck the man on the leg with his baton. This video sparked public interest in the actions of the SMPD.

Police were called to an apartment building on Ocean Avenue on Saturday, November 12 around 5:50 p.m. by a security guard at the complex, according to the the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD)

Lieutenant Rudy Flores said via an emailed statement, “the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) was dispatched to a multi-family complex in the 1400 block of Ocean Avenue regarding a male who was being disruptive and refused to leave the property multiple times. The reporting party was a security officer at the complex. When SMPD Officers arrived on scene, they met with the security officer who directed them to the subject, later identified as Aren Kehind Taylor, a 29-year-old male believed to be homeless. The security officer told SMPD that Taylor threatened and tried to fight him.”

According to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Center, Taylor is a 27-year-old Black man.