Who knew that a father taking a casual early morning stroll with his kid could turn into a traumatic experience? This is exactly what happened at Watonga, Oklahoma, as an individual named John Sexton was on his walk with his autistic son. Things took a turn for the worse when the father and son were suddenly approached by two police officers from the Watonga Police Department. One of the police officers told Sexton that he found the duo “walking around” at 5 am “suspicious”. Thereafter, the man aggressively asked the policeman, “Walking around is a little bit suspicious?” 

“Technically, not really. But I mean, it is pretty early in the morning,” the officer responded. Then, Sexton explained to the officer that he and his son took such walks regularly. However, the other police officer wasn’t sold on the man’s reasoning. “No, you’re not,” he said and subsequently asked the man for his ID. The situation started to escalate a bit when he couldn’t give the officer his ID. “I don’t have it. It’s at the house,” he said.

Immediately, the officer asked a follow-up question, “What’s your name and date of birth?” But the man didn’t answer the question, following which he was slammed to the ground and handcuffed while his son watched and cried. The man was then brought to the patrol car by the police officers, where he was detained for a short period. The clip obtained from the police officer’s body cam has since gone viral on social media with many dubbing the police’s action extremely aggressive. However, not everyone shared the sentiment.

Responding to the clip on X, Jake Paul’s ex-trainer BJ Flores felt that the man’s demeanor was “rough”, and he should have answered the police officer’s questions, instead of evading it. Maybe, a more compliant attitude from the man could have led to a peaceful resolution. “He coulda said has name, address, Sociol and stomped it right out. Tried to be a rough guy and paid the price. Listen next time,” Flores wrote on X.

Although John Sexton was eventually released from detention, the experience was definitely scarring for his son.

Hero to villain in the kid’s eyes!

After he was eventually let go, Sexton told KOCO-TV that his son was now “scared” of cops. He further said that his son wanted to grow up to become a police officer, but watching his father get bodyslammed by a law enforcement official changed his perspective.

“He’s been a cop for Halloween for the last two years. That’s what he’s been wanting to be when he grows up. That’s what he says, and now he’s scared of them,” Sexton lamented. “Horrible. I mean, it’s horrible to see my son act, you know, crying like that and just having my rights violated like that.”

Meanwhile, John Sexton has decided to press charges against the police officer. What’s more, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is now looking into whether the arbitrary detention of the man was justified.

Meanwhile, Blaine County Sheriff Travis Daugherty has already called for both officers to be taken off the streets while the OSBI conducts its investigation. “We’ve had over 200 phone calls this weekend,” Daugherty said. “I can understand why they feel the way that they do, because of hearing that child scream is one of the hardest things.”

Do you agree with BJ Flores’ perspective on the incident that happened with the man and the son? Or, do you think what the police officers did was a violation of basic human rights? Let us know in the comment section below.