WATCH: Cops caught on camera beating suspect in Walmart arrest

On the surface, it appears to be a clear case of excessive force by a police officer, caught on camera by a concerned citizen.

Cell phone video showing a police officer repeatedly striking a downed suspect inside a Greenville County, South Carolina Walmart this past Saturday quickly went viral after it was posted to several social media sites.

The video appears to show two officers holding down the suspect in the process of arresting him.

One of the officers is seen repeatedly punching the suspect multiple times in the head, neck, and back.

“He’s defenseless! He’s defenseless! He’s defenseless, sir. Please stop punching him!” the woman recording the scene can he heard shouting at the officer.

The woman later spoke to WYFF News 4 in South Carolina, but insisted her name be withheld.

“It was on the side of the face. It was so many times, right…on the side of his head and then I saw him punch him in his back. I was like, ‘Please stop punching him, because it’s too many punches.”

While the officer in the videotape has been put on administrative leave and an internal investigation is underway, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department insists the cell phone footage doesn’t tell the whole story – and they’ve released footage of their own to prove it.

In security camera footage from inside the Walmart, the man, identified as 32-year-old Sandon Matthew Sierad, is seen trying to steal one of the cash registers.

He then causes some sort of commotion at the Walmart salon, so much that the salon closes its metal security gate, usually reserved for closing time.

Security camera footage from outside the store shows Sierad confronting an officer, and police allege he made several attempts to grab a deputy’s knife.

Then he takes off, trying to hop into the back of a moving pickup truck before sprinting into the store on foot, the two deputies in hot pursuit.

Once back in the store, police say they hit Sierad three times with a taser, yet he still attempted to resist arrest when officers tried to arrest him.

That’s when then cell phone footage picks up the story, with the officer repeatedly striking the now downed man.

Police say the suspect was mostly likely under the influence of alcohol or “some other substance.”

And while police say they were acting out of concern for the safety of the store patrons, the woman who shot the original cell phone footage is not convinced.

“That does not give somebody a right to abuse someone.”