EUCLID – A man known for helping those who feel targeted by police, was allegedly the target of police brutality last week.

Damien Parker is known to many people in Euclid as a community activist.

On Friday night, he was placed under arrest as he pulled into his apartment complex.

As police approached his vehicle in an attempt to serve a warrant, Parker refused to get out of his car.

“I get out the car and what? These guys jump on me and shoot me, plant something in my car?” Parker said.

From the beginning of the dash cam video, you can hear tensions escalate before the struggle.

Punches being thrown while Parker was on the ground, but the documentation of the incident is different depending on who you ask.

“When you’ve spent the better part of the last two three months trying to intimidate somebody, harassing somebody and all the sudden expect them to cooperate with you and play nice for the camera, that’s not how it works,” Parker said.

The reason Parker was arrested, was one of the reasons police cited taking caution when approaching him in the first place: threats on Facebook.

He was charged with Aggravated Menacing for allegedly threatening another community activist via social media.

In the report, Euclid police explain that they knew who Parker was because of some of his Facebook videos containing “threats against police.”

“This is the same stuff that they said to the FBI,” Parker said. “The FBI reviewed it and said there were no threats.”

The report also mentioned that because of “his history of possessing firearms, his military training and his failure to comply, it was necessary to protect the public.”

Jeffri Riley, Parker’s sister, said he’s never been a threat to anything but injustice.

“He’ll risk it all for anybody,” Riley said.

Even after the incident, Parker said that’s what he’ll continue to do, risk his well-being and reputation for those who don’t have a voice.

“I have bruises on my face, my back is jacked up more and my leg is messed up, it’s gonna take me a while to heal,” Parker said. “While I’m healing and after I’ve healed, if you think that’s going to slow me down, you got another thing coming.”

Parker was charged with Obstructing Official Business, Resisting Arrest, Simple Assault on a police officer, Aggravated Menacing and Unlawful Transactions in Weapons.

He’s scheduled to appear in court next week.

Source: http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/cuyahoga-county/community-activist-claims-euclid-police-brutally-beat-him-during-arrest/490476523