A 60-year-old Black man was hospitalized for three weeks following an arrest in Los Angeles last year when an officer punched him in the chest, leaving him with a collapsed lung.
On December 19, 2022, two plainclothes LAPD officers with the Newton Area Narcotics Enforcement Detail were on 50th Street and Central Avenue to take now-61-year-old Earl Roots into custody to resolve a felony sales warrant against him.
Authorities identified the arresting officers as Officer Brian Kolke and Officer Michael Klee.
Newly-released surveillance video shows Kolke and Klee approaching Roots and attempting to take him into custody. They did have to wrestle Roots to the ground to handcuff him after struggling to detain him. However, by the time Roots was firmly on the ground and incapacitated, Kolke punched Roots in the chest, leaving him struggling and gasping for breath.
“I couldn’t breathe,” Roots told Streetsblog LA. “I thought I was gonna die.”
Police issued a news release saying that Roots “began to resist” during the arrest so “use of force” was warranted. Footage, however, shows Roots merely lying on the ground with Kolke straddled over his body before the officer lands a blow to Roots’ chest.
“The dude hit me right up in here,” Roots said. “I just went into shock.”
Both officers work to lift Roots up off the ground, but as they attempt to walk him over to their squad car, he’s seen hunching over in pain and wheezing. His legs gave in and he fell to the ground.
“I had my chest up,” Roots explained. “I had never been through anything like that. It was horrible.”
Even after complaining of pain from the punch, both officers called an ambulance but made no efforts to try to provide immediate medical aid at the scene even though LAPD policy states officers must “promptly provide basic and emergency medical assistance.”
It took seven minutes for the ambulance to arrive and it wasn’t until he…
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