A viral video shot by a New Mexico woman shows a police officer using a baton to shatter a car’s window after the driver was reportedly initially pulled over for a seat belt violation.
New Mexico State Police told the Albuquerque Journal that a roughly 45 second video released on Facebook this week does not show a nearly half-hour long traffic stop that occurred prior to the incident, in which police say the driver refused to roll down his window.
{mosads}The Journal reported Wednesday that 41-year-old driver Phillip Page and his passenger, 29-year-old Angela Fisher-Herrera, were arrested after the incident and charged with resisting or obstructing a police officer, concealing identity, and making a false 911 call along with the alleged seat belt violations.
“I’m standing by my officers,” police chief Pete Kassetas told the newspaper. “At some point after a certain amount of time of noncompliance, something has to happen.”
“We didn’t break the window and drag him out of the car because he didn’t have a seat belt on,” the police chief continued. “He got removed from the vehicle forcefully because he didn’t comply.”
Page maintained to the Journal in an interview that he and Fisher-Herrera were “polite” to the officer but did not present identification because they did not believe they had a legal need to do so.
“I was just doing everything that was within my rights,” he said. The window-breaking, Page told the Journal, occurred after his refusal to open his window further for the officer.
“At that point we were very concerned – he’s not acting like a cop,” Page said. “He could’ve been calmer.”
Page, who now lives in Oregon, told the Journal he hopes the charges will be dismissed.