Source: David McNew / Getty
Antone Austin, a music producer who resides in Hollywood, Calif., was forcibly arrested in 2019 by LAPD officers responding to a domestic disturbance that involved a white man. However, when the cops arrived at the scene, they quickly and incorrectly assumed that Austin was their suspect and arrested him and his girlfriend according to newly released footage from a body cam video.
NBC Los Angeles has been covering Austin’s story for some time, including an Early March report where he detailed what occurred the day of the arrest that landed him and his girlfriend in jail.
According to the March 9 report, Austin explained that he was thrown to the ground and arrested while stating he believed the incident when as it did due to him being a Black man.
The incident took place on May 24, 2019, near where Austin lived and he was unaware that a neighbor called 911 to get assistance from the police due to an ex-boyfriend returning to her residence. The woman’s call disconnected before she could complete the description of the ex-boyfriend but the LAPD officers were en route to the apartment complex when they happened upon Austin.
Austin shared details with NBC of the comments made by the officers, which have been confirmed due to a judge allowing the body cam footage to be shared publicly.
“This dude?” one officer can be heard saying before his partner returns by saying “Probably” and proceeds to arrest Austin. Austin’s girlfriend, Michelle Michlewicz, tried to get the officers to understand that they had the wrong guy but they reportedly shoved her to the ground and handcuffed them both for resisting arrest.
It later came out that the suspect was a white man who was much shorter than Austin, and as a result, the city of Los Angeles is facing a civil rights lawsuit from Austin and Michlewicz. NBC Los Angeles opened its latest report by saying that the city of Los Angeles sealed the video by court order request but is now entered as evidence in the ongoing lawsuit.
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Photo: Getty
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