Two separate violent encounters involving Mobile police officers that have gone viral after bystanders recorded them on cell phones will be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to see if excessive force occurred, Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine said Thursday.

Both incidences captured on cell phone videos, which remain under investigation and happened five days apart, show police either punching or body slamming someone during an arrest. The Mobile chapter of the NAACP is also demanding an investigation, and calling on the police officer involved in a Tuesday encounter at a Mobile charter school to be placed on unpaid leave.

“I understand these things are emotional and we can’t negate all the great work done by two scenarios that may or may not be proper,” Prine said. “The facts will determine if they are proper.”

Body slamming

The most recent incident, Prine told AL.com, occurred on Tuesday and involved a video he called “troubling” in which an officer is seen body slamming a 16-year-old Black girl.

That altercation occurred outside ACCEL Academy, a charter school in west Mobile. The girl’s mother told a local TV station that her daughter suffered an injury.

“But please note, when I say that we look at it and are troubled by the mere appearance of (the cell phone video footage) does not mean the officer used excessive force,” Prine said. “We are saying that without context, we have an obligation to fact find and get the facts and truths out of this scenario. I would err on the side of caution and have these incidences like this investigated to determine the truths and facts rather than make an assumption based on emotion. I think that is important.”

The officer involved in that altercation, Prine said, did not have his body camera on at the time of the altercation, which is a violation of the agency’s policies.

“There was no body worn camera of the incident itself (but) there was a body worn incident camera of the officer subsequent to the arrest while doing paperwork,” Prine said. “The officer is in violation of not turning on his body worn camera on.”

Prine said the officer was working an extra security job at ACCEL at the time, but that he is “accountable and responsible to the rules and regulation of the Mobile Police Department” while doing the extra work.

Said Prine, “In those type of scenarios where you have a contact with a citizen who is adversarial, he should have had his body camera on. But the investigation is not complete. That’s provided he had a battery that was working, body worn camera that was working. There are always mitigating circumstances as to why sometimes the officer didn’t have his body worn camera on. We have to wait and bear out why he didn’t have the body worn camera on. I just don’t have the information right now.”

An ACCEL spokeswoman said that federal laws prevent the school from providing information about the incident “as one of our scholars was involved.”

“The security, safety and well-being of our scholars, teachers, parents and all stakeholders is of the utmost importance and always our primary concern,” said spokeswoman Victoria Lambert. “At this time the incident is under investigation.”

Prine said the officer is on paid leave while an investigation is occurring.

“That affects employees rights and they have a right, certainly under law, to be compensated and be paid,” Prine said. “It doesn’t mean the case isn’t being investigated.”

Prine said the officer is on administrative duty, which is akin to being placed on a desk job and no longer assigned a street patrol.

“Typically, if an officer will be on an extended amount of leave due to the investigation, we move them to duty status which is a desk duty status so they can continue to work and be productive while being compensated,” Prine said.

October 12 incident

The other incident occurred on October 12 and involved a white Mobile police officer punching a Black man who is handcuffed and face down.

But what was not caught on the video, Prine and others have said, is 36-year-old Beezer Dubose Jr. allegedly grabbing Officer Paul Callegari by his testicles and continuing to latch on, resulting in an injury. Dubose was arrested and faces felony assault charges.

Callegari had a body worn camera on at the time, but Prine said it only captured the initial contact with Dubose.

“Certainly, at some point, when Mr. Dubose was handcuffed from behind, the only thing relevant you see is the jacket of Mr. Dubose,” Prine said. “You don’t get anything relevant here. At some point during struggle and altercation, you hear the officer say, ‘let me go.’”

Body camera policies

Police have not released the body camera footage in either case. The agency has a long-held policy of not releasing police-worn body camera footage to the public, which has rankled some city officials, families of victims form deadly encounters with police and organizations like the NAACP.

For months, the family of Jawan Dallas — who was killed following an encounter with police on July 2 — have called on police to release body camera footage of his death. Police and city officials have declined to do so, stating that Alabama law prevents them from releasing the footage because Dallas’s death remains under investigation and is expected to go before a grand jury.

Prine defended the city’s body camera policy, and said that early release of the footage could taint an investigation.

“I know the Mobile Police Department has a longstanding policy of not releasing body-worn camera footages until the case is certainly sent to a grand jury,” Prine said. “What is important to know is body worn cameras are considered material evidence both for prosecution and defense. We have to preserve the evidence.

He added, “What doesn’t get talked a lot about is if a case goes to grand jury and subsequent to a trial, you almost taint the people in the community who would sit on a jury trial or grand jury … you would taint that jury pool by showing them information without context. The only context you get from broadcast media and media in general is sensationalized. A vast majority of that information is not factual.”

Prine said he understands the public wants to review the footage, but that in the “most egregious” cases involving a shooting death by a police officer and the case becomes criminal, “that officer deserves and has the same constitutional protections any citizen would have.”

“Body worn cameras are material evidence for the courts and our position is whether a defendant or an officer, they deserve their day in court,” Prine said.

That incidences have captured the attention of Mobile City Council members. On Tuesday, some council members requested that public safety committee convene to go over police policies, procedures, and de-escalation training. Chief of Staff James Barber encouraged the group to observe a police training. One council member called for the reformation of a police-citizens advisory committee.

“I would urge not having a knee-jerk reaction that may or may not be improper,” Prine said when asked about the different options council members are exploring, none of which have been finalized. “Before we jump to conclusions and automatically assume our officers are wrong and used excessive force, we should have a calm mind and weigh the facts when they become available.”