New video of a Muskogee police confrontation that made headlines across the country is giving some community groups ammunition to call for more transparency within the department.
An 84-year-old woman was pepper sprayed in the face after police say she was not cooperating with commands.
The incident happened after Muskogee officers say they were pursuing Arthur Blackmon for running a stop sign early in the morning on August 7.
The chase lead police to Blackmon's mother's house and escalated into officers kicking in a door, using a Taser on Blackmon and pepper spraying his 84-year-old mother.
2 Works for You went through video from nine different officer bodycams. One clip that stood out stated, "I think we can spin it."
The attorney for Muskogee police, Scott Wood, says that was Lt. Michael Lippman. That's one reason community groups are calling for an independent investigation.
But Wood says this audio is irrelevant.
"We have all the salient facts recorded both on audio and video," Wood said. "I don't know how you're going to spin something that's recorded on both video and audio."
Wood says Lt. Lippman was last on scene and wasn't sure what was going on.
State and local NAACP along with the Muskogee Christian Ministers Union say kicking in the door and using force on an elderly woman was not justified. In fact, the groups question whether the chase ever happened.
"That particular part of the video tape displayed that the officer who was driving, did not have her lights on while she was pursing Mr. Blackmon," Charles Moore, a pastor and member of the Muskogee Christian Minister's Union, said.
However, Wood says "you can see a car go in front of her at Elgin and junction, that's a 4 way stop sign."
Although you don't see Casady's lights, you can see her following Blackmon to his home. He ignores commands.
Wood says this gave Casady the right to take action.
"In hot pursuit when a policeman is chasing someone who is wanted for a crime, they have the legal right to chase you into the house, to affect the arrest," Wood said.
The NAACP and the Muskogee Christian Minister's Union disagree with the tactic, especially pepper-spraying the elderly woman.
"She's 84 years old waking out of her bed at night, coming through in the middle of the night so she, so her mind is really not being able to focus," Michael Webber, a pastor close to Smith, said.
Wood says although she is elderly, she clearly did not cooperate.
"If you watch the video there is absolutely no doubt that she was not obeying commands and she was resisting officers," Wood said.
Casady was on her last night of field training. Her actions were questioned by other officers caught on video.
"I'm so glad she's off our shift after tonight... because of situations like that... I was so hesitant... I didn't want to step on toes," an officer said in the video.
In the end, Wood says it's not about what's heard in the video, it's about everything that happened.
The Department's still conducting its internal investigation. The community groups want an outside investigation to reveal Muskogee PD needs policy changes.
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