Video shows police using nightsticks and batons to detain 'noisy students'

Police in Alabama used Tasers and nightstick to arrest 'noisy students' (Twitter)

Police in Alabama have opened an internal investigation after video emerged that appeared to show officers shouting, cursing and dragging several people out of an apartment before using a stun gun.

The Tuscaloosa Police Department said it was called to the property at around 3.20 a.m. Sunday in response to a complaint about loud music.

After being made aware of the videos showing the incident, the department sent the footage to internal affairs investigators, the City of Tuscaloosa said on Twitter.

“A full investigation of the circumstances that are depicted in these videos will be conducted,” Tuscaloosa Police said in a separate statement.

“All appropriate measures [will be] taken to ensure the integrity of the Tuscaloosa Police Department in serving the citizens of Tuscaloosa.”

NBC said that at least three videos shot from different angles appeared to show portions of the incident . It was also not clear what occurred before the cameras started recording.

At least one of the videos, which did not show how the confrontation started, showed a man in a Tuscaloosa Police jacket speaking to a group of people in the doorway of a home.

The officer appears to step over the threshold, grab one of the people by the shirt and tell him he is under arrest for “harassment, for grabbing my arm.” The videos depict other police officers arriving and pulling the the suspect and two other people out of the property.

Another video shot from across the street appears to show one of the officers firing a stun gun in the direction of the man who was told he was under arrest.

This can also be heard in other videos. Another officer can be seen appearing to strike the arrested man on the back with what appeared to be a flashlight or baton.

A witness told AL.com the scene was chaotic. “They had a girl and two boys on the ground,” she said. “They were all screaming and everybody was videoing it.”

One of the young men was taken outside the apartment and then hit with a Taser stun gun, and struck repeatedly with an officer's nightstick. Two young men and a young woman - all three students - were taken into custody.