Kingston police say they have arrested a 16-year-old boy from Kingston after a police officer was assaulted during Homecoming weekend.
Police say the youth was arrested Thursday evening in connection with the crime.
Last Saturday night, around 11:30 p.m. on Johnson Street a male partygoer was captured on camera assaulting a Kingston police officer, while dozens of bystanders appear to stand around and watch.
According to Kingston police, a police officer stopped the youth because he was committing a provincial offence.
Police say he refused to identify himself when asked for his name, and then the officer tried to arrest him. While being escorted to the police cruiser, according to police, the youth then became resistant, and started punching the officer, while the crowd threw beer cans at the officer.
In the video, fellow partygoers could be heard laughing and saying things like, “fight, fight, fight,” “don’t do it,” and one individual even said, “somebody help this guy out,” as the teen was attempting to get away from the officer.
“During the struggle the accused continued to punch at the officer and managed to pull out some of the officer’s hair,” a Kingston police news release read.
At one point during the altercation, the teen was able to break free from the officer, and he fled.
Police continued to investigate the incident, and identified the youth later on in the week. On Oct. 24, he was asked to come into police headquarters. When he did, he was charged with assaulting a police officer, escaping lawful custody of a peace officer and resisting arrest. He was then released on conditions to answer to his charges at a later court date.
Kingston police media officer Const. Ash Gutheinz says the youth is from Kingston, but could not give any more details about the suspect since he is under 18.