Bodycam Footage Exonerates Arresting Officer In Viral Video of Arrest at Purdue University That Set Off a Firestorm
“If anything, Purdue Officer Jon Selke ‘should be commended, not vilified’ for the way he handled a confrontation”
The arrest of a young black man at Purdue University in February was captured in a video and set off a firestorm on campus and in the media, with many people comparing it to the arrest of George Floyd.
But the viral video only told part of the story. The arresting police officer will not be charged now that investigators have had a chance to review footage from his bodycam.
In February, Purdue’s student newspaper The Exponent reported:
Purdue police controversy hits national media
Twitter is flooded with various media organization’s reporting on the controversy regarding a student who was physically held down by a Purdue police officer last Friday night. The student was later charged with disorderly conduct. He was booked at the Tippecanoe County Jail, posted bond and was released.
The story came to light this week though social media and Exponent reporting. Since then, it’s become an issue that has been covered by media organizations nationwide.
Here’s a sampling of the various media outlets’ and other interested parties’ Twitter feeds:
Purdue's Black Student Union hosted a town hall meeting, and students addressed how Officer Jon Selke of the Purdue University Police Department handled Adonis Tuggle in a police call caught on video. @AmiciaRamsey reports. https://t.co/1xlpAnNJzX
— WISH-TV (@WISH_TV) February 12, 2022
Officer Jon Selke placed on leave after Adonis Tuggle arrest video sparks outrage https://t.co/h0RbYEq6TD
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 11, 2022
'HE WAS SMOTHERING ME': A police officer received death threats after he was caught on video using his elbow to pin a Black student to the ground by the neck as the student yelled 'You’re choking me.' https://t.co/yHoVEIZDAj
— KSNT 27 News (@KSNTNews) February 11, 2022
There are well over a dozen more media tweets like the ones above. They were so ready to run with this narrative.
Here’s the short version of the arrest video:
The longer version, which did not go viral, makes things look quite different:
Dave Bangert, an independent journalist based in Indianapolis, set the record straight on Substack:
Special prosecutor: Purdue officer use of force justified in arrest that went viral
The scene with a Purdue police officer taking down a Black student and pinning him into a snowbank – captured on an Instagram video shared hundreds of thousands of times since February and that spurred fresh conversations about what it means to be Black on the West Lafayette campus – did not amount to excessive force, a special prosecutor said Monday.
If anything, Purdue Officer Jon Selke “should be commended, not vilified” for the way he handled a confrontation with Purdue junior Adonis Tuggle, Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said after releasing findings that cleared Selke, more than two months after the incident.
On the other side, Cummings said he found reasons to charge Tuggle for resisting arrest, along with other potential crimes tied to what he called a domestic incident involving an argument between the student and his girlfriend while parked near Lynn Hall on Purdue’s south campus area the night of Feb. 4…
Cummings said Monday that Tuggle’s video – one minute taken from the altercation – was what he called a “selective” attempt to “help him evade responsibility for his behavior” to one where “suddenly the police are using unreasonable force on a Black man.”
“He shifted the whole narrative,” Cummings said. “It’s all on video, and I can tell the person responsible for that conflict is Mr. Tuggle. … What the officer did to get control of that situation was not unreasonable, particularly in light of the fact that Mr. Tuggle was not injured.”
Here’s part of a statement released by Purdue this week:
Purdue announces resolution to Feb. 4 police incident
Following a decision by the special prosecutor not to pursue charges in a Feb. 4 incident on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus, President Mitch Daniels and the Purdue Board of Trustees; Adonis Tuggle, the student involved in the incident; the Purdue University Police Department; and PUPD Officer Jon Selke jointly announced agreement on steps forward to ensure such an incident does not recur on campus.
“First, we understand and respect the prosecutor’s decision and are glad for his forbearance in not proceeding with charges against Adonis. Notwithstanding the legal considerations, we believe this was an incident that escalated too quickly in the distinctive context of our campus environment,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said. “We recognize this is an outcome that no member of the Purdue community should expect in light of our high aspirations for community policing at Purdue, which have the primary aim of ensuring a safe and positive experience for our students on campus. We deeply regret what happened, and we’re grateful for our community’s patience as we, alongside Adonis, Officer Jon Selke and their families, have worked to gain a better understanding of what occurred that night and a reconciliation among the parties to the incident.
“We’re proud of the fact that PUPD has no record of this type of incident occurring in the past. It was an aberration and must remain so. “Zero” is the only acceptable number of such incidents at Purdue. We’ve directed several definitive steps to reduce the chance that anything of this kind ever occurs in the future.”
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
You have got to be nuts to be a police officer these days
Just stay in the donut shop and mind your own business. That way you keep your job without having to take a trip through American “justice.”
I often wonder why, when arriving at the scene of a call and seeing it involves all blacks, that the cops even bother to get out of the car.
Exactly. Don’t get out of the car. Just yell at them through a half-opened window, then drive away. Can always come back later with a roll of crime scene tape and a mop.
Once again the Body Cam is a life saver for all good cops, unlike in Canada where fascism is the law so recording cops illegal and if they graciously decide to record it is only for purposes of the police chief informing the public it was fully justified trampling an 80+ year old woman with a war horse.
This cop owes the body cam not just his job but his life.
And that is why the left is now increasingly opposed to body cams.
Exactly.
Leftists saw a very different story than we did when Canadian police trampled elderly people after confiscating cell phones.
Is it though? Even with the body cam footage the leftist mob still wants blood. Even the University President continues to condemn his actions in order to appease the woke mob.
The evidence clearly depicted a cop doing his job and responding to a potentially violent scene between the perpetrator and his girl friend-there is no reason for a public pity party for a purported victim of racist police violence or any similar public rhetoric by anyone employed by Purdue
So they let the piece of trash off with no charges because some people threw a fit and tried to make it into something it wasn’t? Great job at teaching accountability.
One might even call it privilege. ; )
And note how pleased the U is that its friend “Adonis” will not be charged.
Oberlin Mentality in action.
Students who feel entitled to break reasonable on campus policies yet have administration absolve them when they do, is not doing right by the student. At some point, as young as he is now, he’ll be another black man who is now not being held accountable for his actions and will continue to put himself in the same situation. His disregard on how to treat women, as was here, and in part her acceptance to same, with his disregard for the officers who were doing their rightful job, does not bode well for the years ahead and living in “in the real world”.
What weasel words from Daniels. Disgusting. “we believe this was an incident that escalated too quickly”. Really. Too quickly. I wonder why. You want us to believe the officer escalated it too quickly. But he didn’t. Tuggle did. It was Tuggle who resisted arrest. He, and he alone, is responsible for the escalation. Why don’t you say that? Why don’t you make that clear. Weasel.
““We recognize this is an outcome that no member of the Purdue community should expect in light of our high aspirations for community policing at Purdue, which have the primary aim of ensuring a safe and positive experience for our students on campus.”
Really? What outcome would you expect? That a student can commit a crime of domestic violence and the police wont’ respond? Is that the outcome you’re looking for because that’s the only other outcome that is possible.
You say you have a “primary aim of ensuring a safe and positive experience for our students on campus.” Doesn’t that involve the police stopping and arresting students who commit crimes? And isn’t that exactly what the officer did? Shouldn’t you be commending the officer for “ensuring a safe and positive experience for all students on campus”? Or do you think that safety should only be experienced by the perpetrators or crimes and not the victims? Because it seems like you’re saying the latter.
You want ” a reconciliation among the parties to the incident.”. What parties? If you’re talking about a reconciliation between Tuggle and his girlfriend, well, yeah, I hope they work things out. But I also hope Tuggle gets charged and convicted if he committed any crimes. Do you?
But it seems you want a reconciliation between Tuggle and the officer. What kind of reconciliation. It seems like you’re hoping the officer will apologize to Tuggle. But that’s ridiculous. The officer did nothing wrong. Tuggle did. Why don’t you come out and request Tuggle apologize to the officer for fighting with him while resisting arrest. We all know why you wont. You’re a weasel.
““We’re proud of the fact that PUPD has no record of this type of incident occurring in the past.” What are you talking about? Are you saying PUPD has no record of legally and lawfully arresting students? Because I’m sure PUPD has arrested students before. Are you saying the PUPD has no record of controlling and then arresting students who resist arrest? Because I’m sure PUPD has done that before.
So what incident are you talking about. Are you talking about an officer using more force than necessary to arrest a student. Because that’s what you seem to be implying – BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED HERE. So why are you implying it did.
We all know the answer. You’re a weasel.
Another Republican disappoints.
It’s what they do best.
Are you saying Purdue University President Daniels is a Republican? How odd, fidning a rare Republican in academe. BTW, how do you know Daniels’ political views?
I like your restraint in using the word “weasel”. 😉
Among other things, Tuggle made Mistake #1: Don’t get a mouthy attitude with a cop responding to a domestic situation. As for Tuggle’s girlfriend, she needs to reconsider her choice in men.
No, she’ll stick with him. And if he escalates from merely taking her phone and ID to actual physical violence, she’ll refuse to cooperate and stay with him.
The police should have tased the loud-mouth
Blacks are stone-age people who never invented the wheel nor writing. Being in a advanced society is neither good for them nor for us, as the recent NY City subway suspect shooter recently pointed out. The left’s insistence that they are equal only creates cognitive dissonance for the whole nation.
Black man…. man of black, more than one. Brown, yellow, white, too. But we should be wary of exercising liberal license to indulge diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry, inferential logic).
The left insists they are politically congruent (“=”), Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter, a Pro-Choice dogmatic construct.
Y’know! I have 6 yrs post-grad (BA from an Ivy League school)) education and, having read your comment three times, I still have no idea what you just said (or meant).
I think what n.n. is saying is that we cannot become the racists we disdain by painting with a broad brush all people of a given race as [insert whatever].
Maybe, but it’s anyone’s guess.
“BA from an Ivy League school”
Ivy grows in dirt. Just sayin…
I understood n.n perfectly.
It seems that you have attained status with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in presenting your message in a concise way for consumption by the reader.
Directed to n.n.
n.n did not cackle.
I find your post to be exceedingly racist, and entirely disagree with the bigotry exhibited.
It’s not that lobster is incapable of climbing out of the tank… you just need to do something about the other lobsters who keep pulling him back in.
This is racist. Period.
Try to eliminate your emotional response and reply rationally to what you disagree with my statements. Can you cite any source showing in African history, prior to colonization, any examples of the wheel or writing?
This is so idiotic.
In what way is it idiotic? Try thinking rationally instead of emotionally, by stating what you disagree with my statements. If you do this, you’ll find it’s your thinking that is flawed.
You are a racist! Period!
Proud racist, eh? Maybe the mods can delete your account for you.
Racist or not, you are as ignorant as the people you claim never invented the wheel or writing. Perhaps you might start with listing the countries you consider a part of Africa, and what age is “stone-age”.
The wheel was used in Africa as early as 2000 – 1500 BC. The Egyptians (Part of Africa) have been credited with the invention of the spoked wheel, a vast improvement over other wheel constructions.
The stone age end is not an absolute date, but is widely stated as ending prior to 2000BC, so perhaps the poor dumb Egyptians missed it by a 100 years or so. OTOH, why did Africans in general not use the wheel? You imply a lack of intelligence. Perhaps it is your own lack of intelligence to understand why people exposed to the wheel chose not to employ it.
I saw some black people riding in a car today, and it had round things commonly identified as wheels. They didn’t appear to be made of stone though.
missed it by a
1001000 yearsYes, but DNA analysis of Egyptian mummies is showing they were descended from Mediterranean people, with very little from Black Africans. I don’t understand why you mentioned Egyptians, to provide a counter example that Blacks never invented the wheel. They are unrelated. I also don’t understand why your seeing black people riding in a car with wheels, rather than stone wheels, has anything to do with them inventing the wheel or being stone-age people. Those were also inventions by others.
“Existing” in a modern world and using others’ inventions hardly shows the ability to function in a modern world. Their crime, academic, and social problems show they are not thriving at all in the modern world. They belong in a world where they can thrive, rather than in a world where they only create havoc.
You need to be banned and the ten people who agreed with you need to be banned.
I’ve been watching this thread with interest, and no, ruralguy is not going to be banned nor his posts pulled. He is expressing his ideas, and they are clearly not popular. There is no better “fix” for people who express unpopular thoughts than the community combating them with logic and disdain. This is how our socio-cultural fabric stays together: someone says something that is clearly offensive and wrong and then gets dragged for it. The correct response is to let the dragging continue, not to ban “wrongthink” that is not attacking another LI community member.
There are lots of racists in the world, and you may be exposed to them here at LI. There’s your trigger warning. Now, if I were ban-minded, you’d be my pick because there is nothing more antithetical to our mission than your suggestion that we ban not only the wrongthinker but everyone who dared upvote his comment. Yeah, not going to happen.
Thank you, Fuzzy Slippers, .. I think. Notice how it’s the down voters who want to cancel others and use ad-hominem attacks? That’s not a coincidence. It’s the impressionable people who are afraid of being rejected, that readily adopt popular views and the ones who want to reject/cancel any view that goes against this popular view.. You’re wrong that the socio-cultural fabric stays together through this group thought. It’s the group thinking that is causing this country to collapse. Economists have shown it’s the micro behaviors that keep modern society functioning. It’s trust in others and cooperative behaviors that create the network linkages that enable modern societies. It’s not offensive of those of us for whom you down-voters label as “racist” who are striving to defend this nation against an underclass that is tearing down this nation with behaviors that aren’t suited to a 1st world nation. Look deeper than your herd morality. You’ll see rational thought in the up-voters. We would be more than happy to debate your logic. The trouble is, we never see it.
Interesting the split on up and down votes… I am pissed that black people are involved in so much crime, violent crime… but you are not supposed to notice that… And yet black people I interact with… they are just acquaintances who happen to be black.
I am the one with cognitive dissonance, I just don’t get it.
Note that in Purdue’s statement the actual wrongdoer is referred to as “Adonis”. as though he is a friend of the university. The innocent officer? Full name and title at al times. Coddle much?
Has the punk been expelled? Not, more university stupidity,
No, I don’t think they’re trying to show “’Adonis’ as though he is a friend of the university”, I think it’s more like: “If I had a son…”
The college’s position about taking measures to prevent this should be to stop allowing meritless admissions. For the most part, people with an IQ under 120 do not belong in college. Most of them should be sent to trade schools.
The cop should have let that white girl become another statistic. Coo comes to help her out and she takes her boyfriend’s side even after he was aggressive with her? What a bitch.
But that’s the whole fun of domestic calls.
Henrybowman is right. With domestic calls, you never know in advance who is the perp and who is the victim. Even real “victims” often turn on the cops, as in this case. In a dynamic case like this one became, it has even happened that the “victim” assaults the cop.
That was one the threads in one of the first couple of episodes of The Rookie. The little woman is actually the aggressor in the domestic dispute, and ends up killing her huge wrestler husband. (Knife to the throat will do that to you.)
Her best hope is to go ahead and get pregnant now so he will leave her before he gets her killed.
That happens a lot in domestic calls. My dad -a cop- once told me those were the most dangerous calls because the officer sometimes ended up being assaulted by both parties.
A not so novel pandemic. That said, diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry) breeds adversity.
To be a cop today is probably the toughest job in the US. If the perp is black or a female then it is an exponentially greater risk. When you stop and think about how you would confront a black college student on a campus full of his supporters, it is daunting. Any physical engagement is immediately called “Abuse”. I think the only sane way to proceed in this case is with two cops in every car and a VERY clear process for resisting arrest. The public and the cops must know exactly what will happen if one resists arrest and the mandatory charges afterwards must be enforced.
The actual jacked up thing not covered in your quotes is that they made the officer apologize even thought he was justified. Between that and the stupid statement from Purdue, it’s going to happen again and get worse as they have enabled the scum bags.
Adonis was short circuited by this incident before he could scrawl a swastika and nose on his own dorm door.
Off topic. I saw the craziest thing yesterday. Sitting in my car in a nearly empty parking lot and a young black guy drove by multiple spots and parked in the handicapped spot. No special plate, no tag on the mirror, certainly appeared healthy enough as he had to walk by all the legal spots to enter the building. I was tempted to ask him why he did that but I didn’t. I didnt want a confrontation and I’m pretty sure he would have said “stfu old man.” I get the impression that some blacks think they are not required to obey the law and go out of their way to flaunt it.
“I get the impression that some blacks think they are not required to obey the law and go out of their way to flaunt it.”
Those nasty black folks, they act just like some white folks.
Nasty is your word, I didn’t say that.
He thought it was for mental handicaps.
Why the mealy-mouthed statement from Mitch Daniels? And why was the student not charged? His behavior brought this on himself.
This whole episode looks like a contrived event. Notice how fast the ill mannered black man mentioned “see you in court” and engaged in calling the police officer racist. I’d be willing to bet that there exists instructions from people like Benjamin Crump and Al Sharpton on how to pull off one of these stunts in hopes of reaching an out of court settlement (aka a “Shakedown”) for millions.
“agreement on steps forward to ensure such an incident does not recur on campus.”
How does that work? Police don’t arrest blacks? No blacks on campus?
Once again an interaction with a police officer that starts with non-compliance by the individuals. The officer unambiguously asks the person to stand behind the vehicle. A simple command that is not followed. Notice the girlfriend also thinks she gets to tell the officer what to do and tries to interfere.
Notice this is the common thread in virtually everyone of these sorts of incidents.