Internal police investigation underway after Greenville McDonald’s arrest goes viral

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Greenville police say they have started an internal investigation into the arrest of a man Monday afternoon.

The arrest of Anthony Drayton was captured on video by a customer inside the South Memorial Drive McDonald’s.

Warning: Explicit language contained in below video

Police say they were called to the restaurant around 2:00 p.m. for a trespassing complaint, saying the restaurant wanted to permanently ban the man from the business.

In the two minute video, it shows a police officer with a baton in one hand wrestling with Drayton at a booth. Drayton is then seen with his hands over his head, and then the officer again tries to subdue him.

About a minute into the video, another officer arrives, who hit Drayton in the head area with handcuffs. A third officer then arrives, and the officer with the handcuffs is then seen hitting Drayton three times while his head is on or near the table.

Drayton continues to struggle and shortly before the video ends two more officers arrive as the one with the cuffs has their arm around the man’s neck.

A man, who does not want his name to be released, was in the restaurant during that time and says once he saw officers enter the restaurant, he decided to start recording.

“I just had to make sure he [Drayton] was safe on his side and recording was my best way of making sure he was good,” the man said.

Drayton was charged with assaulting an officer and resisting, delaying, or obstructing an arrest.

A warrant says the man assaulted the officer “by attempting to kick him in the groin region.” Another warrant says Drayton refused to give his information to the officer as he was investigating the trespassing complaint.

Police say the video posted on social media captured only part of what happened, and not what led up to the officer using force. “Drayton concealed his right arm in front of him and repeatedly kicked the initial responding officer, prompting a secondary officer to strike him on the head. Drayton was not handcuffed when this occurred,” according to a police statement.

No one was injured during the arrest, police say, and no restrictions have been placed on the officers involved at this time.