Purdue cop on leave amid review of Black student's arrest
Purdue University says a campus police officer received death threats and is on leave until further notice after being caught on video using his elbow to pin a Black student to the ground by the neck

A Purdue University police officer received death threats and is on leave until further notice, the university said, after he was caught on video using his elbow to pin a Black student to the ground by the neck as the student yelled āYou're choking me."
The student, 24-year-old Adonis Tuggle, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the officer also punched him and pressed his face into the snowy ground during the Feb. 4 arrest on the schoolās campus in West Lafayette, Indiana
āHe was smothering me, almost as if you were trying to drown somebody underwater,ā Tuggle said.
Part of the arrest was captured on cellphone video by Tuggleās girlfriend, which was first reported by entertainment website TMZ.
Tuggle, a junior psychology major, said he was arrested, charged with resisting arrest and spent about an hour in jail before bailing himself out.
Purdue said in a statement Thursday night that campus police Chief John Cox placed the officer on a āleave of absence after the officer and department received death threats." The statement, which did not elaborate on those threats, said they were being investigated by campus police.
Cox said his department was conducting an internal review of the officer's conduct during the arrest, and that Indiana State Police would also investigate.
Cox said the officer involved was responding to a call from a third party who said āit appeared a woman was being held against her will.ā
The statement did not identify Tuggle, who said he doesnāt know who called the police, only that the officer arrived and screamed at him to get away from his girlfriend, who is white.
āI was already a couple of feet away from my girlfriend,ā said Tuggle, who added that she tried speaking to the officer. The officer used an expletive and told her to shut up, he said.
āI told him he had no reason to be disrespectful,ā Tuggle said. āHe was yelling at her and she was yelling at him. I told my girlfriend to calm down and I heard him scream āOK buddy, youāre going down,ā and he threw me against the car.ā
Tuggle said the officer had him on the ground and told him to āstop resisting.ā He said the officer also punched him.
At some point, Tuggle said he told his girlfriend to record what was happening. She told the officer he was hurting her boyfriend. She tapped the officer, who warned her that he would use his Taser on her if she did it again, Tuggle said.
When other officers arrived, Tuggle said one held one of his arms while another held his leg.
āI was still screaming: āHe has his elbow on my neck,'ā Tuggle said. āHe dropped his full weight on my face and neck. In the heat of the moment, the only thing I was thinking about was trying to get this officer off of me.ā
āYou could hear me say āI canāt breathe. Youāre choking me. Youāre hurting me.āā
Tuggle said the 2020 death of George Floyd who said he couldnāt breathe as former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee onto the Black manās neck, is not lost on him.
āBasically, what happened to George Floyd almost happened to me, except I had an elbow not a knee, and fortunately, Iām still breathing instead of being in a casket,ā he said.
Andrew M. Stroth, a civil rights attorney, said Tuggle and his family are demanding a full investigation and the release of police body camera video. He said charges against Tuggle should be dropped.
At a Thursday night town hall hosted by Purdueās Black Student Union, a campus conference room was filled to capacity and many students sat outside in hallways. Attendees demanded action and suggested independent oversight of Purdueās police department, more accessibility to body cameras and increased, more permanent resources for Purdue students of color.
Nigel Taylor, the vice president of the Black Student Union, said the students outlined āa clear plan to enforce these goals if they werenāt to happen."
āOf course we want to do this peacefully, we really donāt want to get to that point. However, we do want to make sure this agenda is met because quite frankly weāre tired of having these same conversations year after year after year,ā he told WLFI-TV.
Purdue President Mitchell Daniels, Jr. said in a statement that the inquiry into the officer's conduct would be āswift and thorough.ā
āShould there be a finding of misconduct by the officer, appropriate action will be taken promptly," he said.