The Mesa Police Department is conducting an excessive-force investigation after a confrontation between officers and a man who was stopped while riding his bicycle to work.
Police said 22-year-old Arthur Velasquez didn’t have the required lighting on his bicycle when he was stopped Wednesday night. Detective Steve Berry said Velasquez became combative after officers told him to put down the cellphone he had pulled out of his pocket.
“There was no activity or no real physical interaction between the subject and our officers until the point where he stopped complying with what the officers were asking him to do,” he said.
Berry said investigators will review the incident, which was captured by the officer’s body cameras.
Velasquez suffered cuts and bruises, some of which required stitches.