Iowa City police release body camera footage of public intoxication arrest

IOWA CITY — Iowa City police released officer body camera and squad car video clips Monday it says shed more light on a public intoxication arrest last week that remains under review.

The arrest late Friday of Daria Brown, 22, on S. Clinton Street was partially captured on a video circulating on social media. That video shows the arrest from one angle as a combative Brown is put into custody in the back seat of a police vehicle as an officer punches her. Video released by the department shows the arrest from other angles, including one that shows Brown trying to grab a Taser off an officer’s belt as he places her in the vehicle.

Brown faces one count of public intoxication, two counts of interference with official acts, four counts of assaults on persons in certain occupations and one count of disarming a police officer.

Content Warning: The following video contains violence and profanity.

The police videos show Brown struggling with police as they try to put her in the squad vehicle. An officer attempts to use pepper spray to force her to cooperate, but it doesn’t go off.

In the squad car video, Brown can then be seen grabbing a Taser — an electroshock device — on an officer’s belt. After telling her to let go, the officer hits her in the upper back until she does. Officers then close the doors of the squad car with Brown inside.

When officers first confront Brown, she is seen on video hitting the windows of a downtown bar and yelling. According to a city news release, she had been denied entry to the bar because of her level of intoxication and had assaulted a bar employee. The bar declined to pursue charges.

Brown then kicked at officers while they were putting handcuffs on her, and later when they were trying to get her into the squad car.

Video from the squad car shows Brown moving around in the back seat on the way to the Johnson County Jail. Once at the jail, she began hitting her head against something in the car and was removed for her safety, a criminal complaint shows.

She continued fighting with officers and bit a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy in the leg, according to the complaint.

Brown had her initial appearance in court Monday and was released from the jail after posting a $5,000 cash bond.

Paul Wittke, who originally posted a video of the arrest on Facebook, said in an interview he didn’t shoot the video but it was sent to him by a friend. He said he posted it because he believed the officer had gone too far and that the amount of force used wasn’t necessary.

The city said the arrest remains under review in accordance with its use of force policy.

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