Body cam footage emerges of Iowa player Faith Ekakitie's police encounter
Iowa City police body camera videos released Tuesday show an encounter last week between officers looking for a bank robbery suspect and a black University of Iowa football player.
The videos show officers stopping and searching UI defensive end Faith Ekakitie last Wednesday. Police had said Ekakitie matched the description of the suspect in an armed bank robbery.
Ekakitie wrote about the encounter in a viral Facebook post last Wednesday describing "four gun barrels staring me in the face" and saying that "today was the first time I've truly feared for my life."
His post quickly became a national story as media including ESPN and the Washington Post wrote about the incident.
At least one officer can be seen in the video with a gun drawn.
"Just keep your hands up. It's probably not you, but we've got to double-check," a female officer can be heard saying as police approach Ekakitie.
Ekakitie ended his Facebook post by thanking the officers "for handling a sensitive situation very professionally" and encouraging everyone to "unlearn some of the prejudices that we have learned about each other and now plague our minds and our society."
Stephen Gruber-Miller writes for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, part of the Paste BN NETWORK.