Man Gets Beaten And Pepper Sprayed By Cops On A Porch After Being Catfished

SAN TAN VALLEY, AZ (AZFamily) —When Pinal County sheriff’s deputies first arrived on scene responding to calls about an attempted break-in on the night of June 3 in San Tan Valley, Bobby Dozier’s hands were up, and he didn’t have a weapon.

Within seconds, Ring camera footage shows a deputy pistol-whipping him. Another deputy ran over and attempted to handcuff Dozier before they blasted him with a pepper ball. A deputy then punched him repeatedly.

To get away from the pepper powder, the video shows deputies dragging Dozier from the porch to the front yard, hitting his head on the pillar on the way as he screamed in pain.

“They assaulted me, flat out,” said Dozier. “They should not be able to get away with stuff like that.”

Arizona’s Family sat down with Dozier to get his side of the story.

“I’ve had a traumatic brain injury since 2003. I was in a car accident,” he said.

He said the reason he was at that house that night was to get back money from a woman named Sandy, whom he had met online.

“She had been catfishing me for game cards for her nieces and nephews or whatever for a month before then,” said Dozier. “She was sending me pictures of a stack of cash saying ‘I got it right here. Sweetheart, come get it.’”

It turns out that the address the fraudster provided was incorrect.

A family lives there, and a mom and young daughter were home when Dozier, a stranger, showed up. They called 911.

“They ran and hid in a closet and I’m so sorry to them,” said Dozier.

When no one answered the door, he became angry and admitted that he had tossed a rock through the window.

“It was dumb. I shouldn’t have done it,” said Dozier.

He accepts responsibility for his actions, but said the crime didn’t fit the punishment. “Watch the video and then say it’s justified,” he said.

Reporter Micaela Marshall asked Dozier: “To you, this is police brutality?”

“Absolutely,” he replied. “That’s not protecting and serving anybody.”

Before jail, Dozier was taken to the hospital to treat his cracked ribs and other injuries after being hit in the head with a gun.

He is facing charges for burglary, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.