Manuel Van Santen (pictured) has been identified as the deputy who wrestled young quadruple amputee in a video
The Pima County Sheriff’s deputy who wrestled a teenage quadruple amputee to the ground has been identified as Manuel Van Santen.
Van Santen, an 11-year veteran on the force, was placed on administrative leave after a disturbing video showed him pinning Immanuel Oloya, 15, to the floor.
Samuel Jurgena, the Pima County public defender representing Oloya said he was outraged by the incident.
‘I think everyone feels in my office this cop should not be out here with a badge and a gun if this is how he´s treating kids in group homes,’ he said.
Jurgena also said his client does not have the, ‘ability to fight back in a way like a normal person would.’
Van Santen (pictured) is a 11-year veteran and has been placed on administrative leave while the The Pima County Sheriff’s Office conducts an investigation
The footage begins with Van Santen holding Oloya in a headlock.
‘Don’t f*****g hold me down!’ the teen, Immanuel Oloya, is heard yelling at the Pima County deputy as the incident is being recorded on cell phone video by a witness.
‘Don’t f*****g hold me down, n*****,’ Oloya, 15, yells repeatedly.
The armed deputy, a physically imposing bald man wearing sunglasses, is seen with his hands around Oloya who yells: ‘Get the f*** off of me!’
Video has emerged showing an Arizona sheriff’s deputy tackle Immanuel Oloya, a 15-year-old quadruple amputee
The deputy is seen above pinning Oloya to the ground inside a group home in Tucson, Arizona, in September
During the encounter, Oloya is heard yelling at the deputy to get off of him while the deputy tells Oloya to calm down
‘Are you going to calm down?’ the deputy asks the teen. ‘Get the f*** off of me!’ the boy responds.
The deputy appears to be ordering Oloya to calm down, but the teen demands that the deputy release him.
‘Are you going to calm down?’ the deputy asks the teen.
‘Get the f*** off of me!’ the boy responds.
The eight-minute clip, which was recorded in September, was made available to KOLD-TV by the Pima County Public Defender’s Office.
Oloya was put into a group home after he was abandoned by his family, according to the Public Defender’s Office.
The deputy was called to the home after Oloya allegedly knocked over a garbage can and verbally threatened a worker.
The video clip shows the deputy wrestle Oloya to the floor and then release him after about 90 seconds.
The deputy and Oloya then exchange words as the teen sits on the floor and leans back against a refrigerator.
The incident was being recorded on a cell phone by another teen who was in the other room
The deputy was called to the group home after reports that Oloya had allegedly threatened staff and knocked over a trash can
As the two exchange words, the deputy becomes agitated, yelling at Oloya: ‘I’m telling you to stop moving, and you still move!
‘Shut the hell up!’
Oloya says something to the deputy, who responds: ‘I will raise my voice to you whenever the f*** I want. Do you understand me?’
The witness who secretly filmed the incident, who has been identified only as C.J., then makes a comment at the deputy, who admonishes him by saying: ‘Shut the hell up!’
‘Are you involved in this?’ the deputy yells toward the 16-year-old filming the incident.
‘Go to your room!’ the deputy tells C.J.
After C.J. yells something inaudible to the deputy, the deputy walks over to the teen.
‘Am I talking to you?’ the deputy says.
C.J. tell the deputy to ‘get out of his face,’ prompting the deputy to angrily tell him to ‘shut the hell up.’
The deputy then tells C.J. to ‘go eat your cereal.’
After more back-and-forth, the deputy then tells C.J. that he plans to arrest him as well as Oloya.
The deputy and the teen then exchange words as the teen sits on the floor and leans back against a refrigerator
Oloya was abandoned by his family and has been in the custody of child welfare services in Arizona
He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, but state prosecutors said they dropped the charges after video of his arrest surfaced
Oloya says something to the deputy, who responds: ‘I will raise my voice to you whenever the f*** I want. Do you understand me?’
The deputy is then heard using his police radio to call for backup.
He then walks toward Oloya, the quadruple amputee, and exchanges words with him. The teen appears to be admonishing the deputy for raising his voice.
The deputy then briefly leaves the room. A few moments later, another sheriff’s deputy appears.
The two deputies then arrest C.J.
One of the deputies is seen slamming C.J.’s head into the wall with his elbow as they place handcuffs around his wrists.
Another boy takes the cell phone and continues recording as the two deputies escort C.J. to a police car.
The video ends before Oloya is also taken into custody.
Both teens were charged with disorderly conduct, but prosecutors told KOLD-TV that it dismissed the charges against Oloya after being made aware of the video.
‘Today, for the first time, our office saw the video from the September 26th, 2019 incident involving Immanuel Oloya,’ the Pima County Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
‘The Public Defender obtained this video and released it to news media, but our office was not given any opportunity to review this video until today.
‘Upon reviewing the video, we have dismissed the charges pertaining to this incident.’
No decision has been made as to whether to drop charges against C.J.
Meanwhile, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office has opened an internal investigation.
The video also shows the deputy arrest C.J., the 16-year-old who recorded the incident on his cell phone
C.J. showed the video to his lawyer from the Pima County Public Defender’s Office.
‘Men with badges should not be acting this way,’ Joel Feinman, the Pima County Public Defender, said.
‘Men and women who do act this way should not have badges and guns.’
Feinman added: ‘Imagine you were this boy with no limbs who just got tackled by this large man with a badge and gun and this man is now screaming in your face and he’s now threatening your friend who’s recording this whole incident.
‘Absolutely, that’s egregious.’
Feinman said the first time he and his colleagues saw the video, they cried.
‘We’re public defenders, so we have an iron stomach for a lot of things, but this was especially terrible,’ Feinman told The Washington Post.
Oloya has hired a lawyer, and a lawsuit is likely to be filed.
‘He wanted to talk, he wanted to have the video on the news because he wanted to make sure something good comes from this,’ Jurgena said.
‘He just wants to make sure this does not happen to other kids in the system.’
Feinman rejected any suggestion that Oloya provoked the deputy, saying that nothing justifies the treatment he received.
‘Fifteen-year-olds who have not been through what Immanuel went through act out all the time,’ he said.
‘These are kids who live in a group home because they can’t live with their parents.
‘This is exactly the type of person that law enforcement needs to protect and defend.
‘Instead we see them being treated like they’re animals.’
DailyMail.com contacted the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for further comments.