*A video posted to social media shows several Anne Arundel County, MD police officers forcibly removing a Black man during a traffic stop as he narrates the incident.
Officers are shown asking 23-year-old Antoine Lee Wedington of Brooklyn Park, MD to get out of the car, saying they have warrants for his arrest. Wedington, in the passenger seat, explains to the camera that the driver was stopped for speeding, and expresses confusion over the reason for his record being searched. After refusing to comply with officers demands to exit the vehicle, they try to remove him forcibly.
During the struggle, he asks the officers to let him leave the vehicle himself. When pressed against an SUV, he shouts at the driver, Heather Janney, to continue filming.
Wedington was eventually charged with resisting arrest. The videos, which Janney posted to her TikTok account @heatherjanney, have been viewed more than 22.5 million times, prompting pickups from TMZ and other outlets across the country.
The videos end with Janney crying and what appears to be a baby in the backseat. Wedington told police during the arrest he was saying goodbye to his family who were in the vehicle with him. Wedington kissed Janney as he was pulled out of the vehicle.
Watch the videos below:
@heatherjanneyEarlier in the video :/
@heatherjanneyThe last part.♬ original sound – Heather Janney
In a news release Saturday, police said that Wedington was identified during a traffic stop when the female driver was pulled over for speeding around 3:20 p.m. Monday near the intersection of Shady Side and Deale Churchton roads in Deale. Officers asked the driver and Wedington for identification, and Wedington refused, police said. Wedington said in the videos he didn’t think it was legal for police to identify him.
“He wasn’t arrested because he didn’t produce his ID,” said police spokesman Lt. AJ Gardiner. “He was arrested because he was (identified as) Antoine and he didn’t comply.”
Officers identified Wedington with a database and discovered he had two active warrants issued in Anne Arundel County, at least one for failure to appear in court, Sgt. Kam Cooke said in an interview. Cooke said he did not know the nature of the other warrant.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
