JEFFERSONTOWN, Ky. — A man who recorded video of Jeffersontown officers conducting an investigation in a McDonald's parking lot is now facing charges himself.
Joseph Bennett says he was on his way home from work on Tuesday when he saw several police cruisers pulling over another car in a McDonald's parking lot on Bluegrass Parkway.
Bennett said he decided to pull over, grab his phone and live stream the interaction. Shortly after, two of the officers approached him and asked him to put his phone away and then asked him for his identification. Bennett said he refused and that's when one of the officers punched him and tried to grab his phone.
"I wasn't expecting this. This was brought to me for reasons I had no concept of," Bennett said. He said the two officers tried desperately to pry the phone from his hand.
After the altercation, Bennett tells WHAS11 the officers told him that his car matched one of the vehicles involved in their investigation. He said he later talked with a supervising officer about the situation and police ended up giving him a couple of citations.
Bennett said he wants the police to drop the charges against him and said he's looking for legal counsel.
In a phone conversation with WHAS11, Lt. Col. Steve Schmidt of the Jeffersontown Police Department said his officers were in the area investigating and making arrests related to a check fraud scheme thwarted at the Citizens Union Bank across the street from the McDonald's.
According to Lt. Schmidt, one of the detained suspects pointed to the man filming the video as the driver involved in the alleged fraud crime.
However, it turns out that the man was not a suspect in the alleged scheme, Schmidt said.
The man was cited at the scene with menacing and resisting arrest, Schmidt confirmed. He said his officers have been trying to reach the man to talk about what transpired.
According to Schmidt, the man allegedly told them he was searching for a lawyer to represent him before he speaks with the police.
View the full video of the encounter below:
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