San Jose State Motivational Speaker Files Complaint After Claiming Police Beat Him
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- A man who gave a motivational speech at San Jose State University last May claims police beat him afterward.
Nate Howard points to a YouTube video that shows him badly bruised, and traumatized.
"They threw me to the ground and you can see in the video, picking me up again to throw me back on the ground and then what gives some right to then pull out a baton." Howard said.
The 23-year-old says he had just given a speech at San Jose State's black graduation ceremony.
"I'm a visitor in San Jose, I didn't feel that treatment," he said. "I was looked at as another brother with dreads causing trouble."
Howard says they celebrated at a nightclub, and things got messy as officers cited his friend for public urination.
Nate is a motivational speaker who graduated from the University of Southern California. He says he was simply standing up for himself when the cops forced his hands behind his back.
"There's fear of the media when we play this idea of 'Is he using the racial card?'" he said. "Yes. I'm going to speak out at the idea that we're not in post-racial America."
He's now filing a formal complaint with the independent police auditor and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
"If any of these allegations are sustained and found to be true, then any officers that get sustained allegations will be disciplined," said Independent Police Auditor LaDoris Cordell.
Howard says he doesn't have anything against the police and what he wants is an apology.
The San Jose Police told KPIX 5 they have been proactive within the department since they learned of Howard's incident and want their employees to understand their policies and expectations. They also said they're doing outreach within the community specifically at San Jose State.
This is not the first time Howard has accused police officers of excessive force. Last year, Howard says he was manhandled by the Los Angeles Police Department.