FORT WAYNE, Ind. – A Fort Wayne Police Department spokesman said the man at the center of a widely shared Facebook video was resisting police while being arrested for alleged drug dealing.
Captain Jeremy Webb said a traffic stop, near the intersection of E. Washington Blvd. and S. Hanna St., was initiated on Wednesday after 33-year-old Robert Eugene Lee dealt drugs.
Webb says Lee “physically resisted arrest” and attempted to flee. He was then directed to the ground and “force was used to gain compliance and place the subject into custody.”
The spokesman says FWPD is aware of a video circulating of the incident that shows arresting officers using force on Lee. The video shows multiple police cars near the stopped car Lee was in.
Three officers could be seen holding Lee down, with one officer visibly striking him multiple times.
Webb says more information will be shared with the public after an investigation into the incident. A city spokesman says Mayor Sharon Tucker has been made aware of the incident and that she, along with FWPD, is reviewing the video.
The spokesman said the body camera footage will be reviewed, and it will “give us a better understanding of what occurred.”
Court records show an undercover Vice and Narcotics Division detective saw Lee pacing back and forth along Clay Street, south of E. Washington Boulevard. The detective said he asked Lee if he had any “hard,” slang for crack cocaine.
Lee allegedly told the detective he could take him to get some and gave him directions to another location, court documents say. The suspect then met with a man at the location and returned to the car with 0.1 grams of a substance that later field-tested positive for cocaine.
The detective handed Lee $20 of prerecorded money and they began driving away from the location, court records show. The undercover detective gave the “pre-determined take down signal,” and a traffic stop was initiated.
The detective noted in his report that Lee allegedly “began to violently and forcefully resist” detectives trying to arrest him.
Lee is being held at the Allen County Jail on felony dealing, resisting law enforcement and possession of paraphernalia charges. He is set to appear in court for the first time on the charges Friday morning.