Las Vegas police held a news conference Wednesday after Michael Bennett accused its officers of mistreating him and threatening to kill him last month. Las Vegas Police Department undersheriff Kevin McMahill said investigators have found no evidence the Seahawks defensive end was racially profiled during the incident that followed the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor boxing match.
“Many of the folks today have called this a incident of bias-based policing, police officers focusing solely on the race of an individual that they’re going to stop,” McMahill said, via USA Today. “I can tell you as I stand here today, I see no evidence of that. I see no evidence that race played any role in this incident.”
McMahill could not explain why the officer who apprehended Bennett didn’t have his body camera turned on. McMahill added that his department will review 126 videos from officers, and if those reveal that “any policies or training was violated, those officers will be held accountable.”
Partial video of the incident surfaced earlier Wednesday.
Bennett claimed in a social media post that he was singled out for “simply being a black man.”
McMahill said he was unaware of the incident until Bennett’s letter.
He said officers claim Bennett was crouched behind a gaming machine and was spotted running. Officers were responding to reports of a possible active shooter in the casino.
“You hear the officer approaching the door saying, ‘There he is.’ He gives chase; Mr. Bennett jumped over the wall, our officer jumped went over the wall immediately thereafter,” McMahill said.
Bennett was detained for 10 minutes and released, the undersheriff said, though Bennett wrote he was not given “any justification” for his apprehension.