Tags:

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Authorities have released body cam footage of a viral arrest video where an officer was seen throwing a man on the ground at a busy Brunswick intersection.

Glynn County Police Department said a "physical confrontation" occurred at the intersection of Altama Avenue and the Altama Connector.

Police said an officer approached the man standing "dangerously close" to the road and the man approached the officer while in the roadway despite the officer telling him to stay on the sidewalk.

Police say the officer attempted to de-escalate the situation, but efforts were unsuccessful leading to a verbal confrontation with the man keeping his left hand behind his back and concealed from the officer.

The man then began to walk away from the officer, as the officer then attempted to "secure" the man in order to prevent him from possibly walking into traffic, police said. After a brief "struggle," the two men released each other, but the man continued to verbally confront the officer while the officer radioed for additional support to come to the scene.

While the officer was calling for backup, police say the man grabbed the officer with his right hand, then released him, and then used his right hand to "make a signal that the officer feared may be a signal for other people to come to his assistance and potentially overwhelm the officer."

The officer tried keep the man's hands away from the officer's duty belt. Attempts to deploy a taser on the man were unsuccessful.

Once the man was "secured," his mother arrived on scene, police say. She told officers that her son suffers from "severe mental illness" and officers learned that he had previously been charged with crimes related to obstruction and fighting with officers, a press release stated.