State Watch

19-year-old kneed by Ocean City police says he prayed for protection from officer

A 19-year-old who was part of a group of teenagers that was involved in an incident with Ocean City police in recent weeks said that he prayed for protection during his encounter with an officer who repeatedly kneed him in his ribcage.

Brian Anderson from Pennsylvania said that he “asked God to give me the strength” during the confrontation.

“Guide me and protect me so that this officer doesn’t make this my last day here,” he prayed, he told a local NBC News affiliate.

Anderson and his friends were visiting Ocean City, Md., to celebrate senior week when they were approached by local officers for allegedly violating the city’s vaping ban. The 19-year-old said that he complied with the officers’ request to stop vaping, but still doesn’t understand how the situation escalated.

“I put the vape away and we started walking and they’re still following me,” Anderson told the news outlet.

Ocean City police pushed back on Anderson’s assertion, telling NBC News that the teen began vaping again and then refused to provide ID, which can lead to arrest.

“Next thing I know, I’m just on the ground getting kneed in my ribcage,” Anderson said.

Video of the incident went viral on social media over the weekend; in the footage, officers can be seen pinning Anderson to the ground as an officer repeatedly knees him.

Another incident in Ocean City was also widely circulated on social media. In a short clip of the altercation, 18-year-old Taizier Griffin was seen with his hands raised before he was tazed by police.

Ocean City’s mayor, Rick Meehan, said that a thorough investigation into the incident is being conducted, and urged the public not to make assumptions.

“I hope that when all the video is out there, we have a better understanding of really what occurred,” he said, according to NBC Washington. “I’m glad nobody got hurt in any of these situations.”

Willie Flowers, president of the NAACP Maryland State Conference, pushed back on Meehan’s comments, stating that people were hurt as a result of the situation.

“Somebody did get hurt, and it’s the entire community that got hurt,” he said, according to NBC Washington.

Maryland’s NAACP chapter is set to discuss the incident on Wednesday, the outlet noted.