DAYTON, Ohio — The Dayton NAACP held a press conference Sunday to discuss the situation that occurred between a Black disabled man and Dayton police officers at a traffic stop in late September. 

What You Need To Know

  • During a Sept. 30 traffic stop, Dayton police officers pulled Clifford Owensby out of his car

  • Owensby stated to the officers that he's paraplegic and couldn't get out of the car, and refused their assistance

  • Police officers dragged Owensby out of his car and searched the vehicle

  • Police said they pulled Owensby over because they believed he had just left a home being surveilled by the Narcotics team

Clifford Owensby, 39, who said he does not have use of his legs, said he felt helpless when he was forcibly removed from the car to the ground and handcuffed before being placed in the back of a Dayton Police Department cruiser during the Sept. 30 traffic stop.

Owensby said he could not get out because he is paraplegic, and he refused their assistance in doing so, police said. He then “grabbed onto the steering wheel (and) was then forcibly removed from the vehicle,” police said Friday. 

Owensby said police pulled him over for his tinted windows and asked him to exit the vehicle so they could search the car. Police said last week they pulled him over because they suspected around 12:30 p.m. that day that Owensby had just left a home being surveilled by Narcotics detectives. 

The 11-minute body camera footage released by police shows Owensby repeatedly saying he could not get out of the car because of his condition and asked the officers to speak to their supervisors. The officers then told him they would forcibly take Owensby out of his car, which they did. 

On the ground, he is heard screaming for help, asking if people were recording and asking someone to call “the real police.”

Police said Owensby was placed on the ground “in order to secure him” and officers had to pull his arms behind his back to handcuff him, police said. A bag containing $22,450 in cash was found on the front floorboard, and the dog alerted to the currency, meaning “the money had been in close proximity to illegal drugs,” police said. Reports state no drugs were found in the vehicle. 

The Dayton Fraternal Order of Police released a statement Friday defending the officers, saying “the officers followed the law, their training and departmental policies and procedures.”

“This is a situation that started from tint being on the window that led to a situation where an African American man pulled out of a vehicle, as a paraplegic, by his hair,” said Derrick Foward, president of the Dayton NAACP.

Owensby filed a complaint against the department on Oct. 4 and said he is pursuing a lawsuit. The Dayton Police Department is investigating the incident. No charges have been filed.

Kevin Davis, owner of KD Training and Consulting, trains officers on the use of force.

“I counted no fewer than 20 verbal commands by the officers, and at first they just ask the guy to get out and when he couldn’t, he offered assistance," Davis said. "Yes, he was a paraplegic but all of this could have been avoided if Mr. Owensby has complied with the officers lawful commands.”

Foward said his goal is to prevent incidents like this one from happening again. 

"He would have been in better position to either to have either a family member to come down and assist him and/or the white shirt who he had called for several times to assist," Foward said.

The Associated Press and Spectrum News 1 reporter Katie Kapusta contributed to this report.

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