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Police Chief Otoniel Reyes has ordered an internal use-of-force investigation after a social-media video showed an officer punching a man in the head during an altercation inside a downtown office tower.
The incident occurred last Friday in the lobby of the Connecticut Financial Center on Church Street next to City Hall.
Officers responded to a call about a man named Shawn Marshall, whom management sought to evict from an office on the 19th floor.
More than an hour of discussion and negotiation ensued. In the end the police moved to arrest the man. A scuffle ensued. Three officers eventually wrestled the man to the ground.
At one point an officer punched the man three times in the head. The officer, Justin Cole, then deployed pepper spray.
A security guard named Jolisha Troutman recorded nine minutes of the confrontation, including the punches to the head. Another person posted the video on Facebook, where it was shared 154 times as of Tuesday afternoon.