A California boy has spoken out after a video came out Tuesday, showing a police officer in North California punching him and pinning him to the ground. 14-year-old Elijah Tufono recalled the time Brian Fowell, a Rancho Cordova police officer, detained him.

Tufono said, the officer was on top of him, "and it looks like he's about to hit me." The teenager added, he was reacting just like any ordinary human would, and it could have been better, he emphasized, on both of their parts in kind of situation.

The trouble began, Tufono recalled, after he asked a stranger to buy some tobacco for him, then, had it in hand. That was when the police officer pulled up and asked him what was in his hand. Tufono recounted that he just gave the tobacco to him as soon as he was asked.

What happened next was that the teenage boy said, Fowell turned confrontational even if he already handed over the tobacco to him right away. Out of fear, according to the young boy, he turned untruthful with the officer.

The Police Department's Response

Tufono said he indeed lied to the police officer adding, he did not cooperate, as well. He knew too that he indeed make that mistake. But despite the lie, the 14-year-old said, it did not give Fowell the right to do what he did.

Meanwhile, the Sgt. Tess Deterding, the spokesperson for the Office of the Sheriff in Sacramento County, responded on behalf of the Rancho Cordova Police Department, saying it is vital to put the recorded video into the circumstance" particularly if it is related to a forced used in an incident.

In this particular occurrence, the statement said, the deputy saw what he assumed to be a hand-to-hand altercation between a juvenile and an adult. According to reports, as the deputy turned around, he could no longer see the adult, who, by that time, already left the area.

And when he approached the teenager, the latter was not cooperative and declined to give him the necessary information. Tufono, on the other hand, said the officer attempted to put handcuffs on him without even telling him the reason for such action.

So, when Fowell did that, Tufono said, "I pulled my right hand back," and that was when the officer began to get aggressive and attempted to fight.

Speaking for the police department, Sgt. Deterding said, at that time, the teenage boy turned physically resistive, causing the deputy to lose control of the handcuffs, which fell a few feet away. 

More so, the deputy tried to stay in control of the teenage boy without the handcuffs while awaiting the arrival of his parents to assist him.

Forgiveness 

Despite the pinning and punching, Tufono said he has nothing against the police officer and that he has forgiven him. "He was just doing his job," he added.

However, the teenager's family was stricken with grief after they saw the video which his friends shot. Justin Tufono, Elijah's uncle, shared how the video broke his heart. He also added that frustration and anger turned into sadness because Elijah has a heart ailment.

Aside from sharing, he has forgiven Fowell for what he did, this 14-year-old boy, asked for forgiveness too, for not being cooperative and the way he acted towards him. He also said he was hoping to meet the officer again and "be on better terms."

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