Officer who slammed handcuffed man into pool is charged

PHILADELPHIA – Authorities say a Philadelphia police officer who was caught on video slamming a handcuffed man into the side of a swimming pool has been charged with assault.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office says James Yeager was arrested Thursday.

A video uploaded to social media the day of the July 2017 encounter shows a group of officers grabbing a handcuffed man and slamming him to the ground. The video also shows an officer picking up the man and smashing his head into the side of an above-ground pool that was set up on the street.

The police department did not have an immediate comment on Yeager’s arrest but said he was fired last August. Yeager’s union, the Fraternal Order of Police, says the video doesn’t tell the whole story.