A San Francisco woman who filmed an altercation between a bicyclist and police officer is speaking out about the incident.
The bicyclist claims he was just doing his job when a police officer used excessive force to pull him over on Jan. 3. San Francisco police dispute the claim and said the bicyclist was the on resisting arrest and disobeying a traffic order.
"I was just so scared for him," said Katherine Jarvis, who filmed the incident. "I wanted them to stop."
Jarvis was walking to a nearby store in the area of 4th and Townsend streets when she saw the bicyclist pinned down to the ground by the officer.
"When I saw that it was a cop and a black man, I pulled out my phone," Jarvis said. "at first it was like, 'Why are you doing this?'"
The bicyclist in the video declined to do an interview with NBC Bay Area. His GoFundMe page, which has since been taken down, shows injuries he suffered during the incident. The bicyclist said he was pulled over for texting while biking, but claims he was just using navigation while working as a delivery man for Postmates.
A friend of the bicyclist who was at the scene told Jarvis the same story.
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"He was delivering a burrito for Postmates and was using navigation on his phone," Jarvis said of the friend's story.
The cyclist said things escalated after he hit record on his cell phone. Video shows the officer hitting the bicyclist in the legs and pinning him to the ground.
San Francisco police said the offenses for the cyclist include disobeying a traffic order, battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. The police department also plans to hold an internal investigation into the matter. The investigation will be reviewed by the officer of citizen complaints.
Meanwhile, Jarvis said the walk to the store is something she will never forget.
"I just was not expecting this at all," Jarvis said. "I didn't think those things would happen over there."
