The Philadelphia Police Department has arrested one of its own Wednesday after reviewing footage that captured the officer allegedly deleting witness video during an arrest.
Officer Burnett was identified as the cop who confiscated Jacob Giddings' phone during an arrest at a gas station in March. Giddings had an active warrant for assault and was arrested and charged with one count of resisting arrest and one count of drug possession.
Giddings was recording his arrest before he was physically removed from his truck. After dropping his phone during the struggle, Officer Burnett recovered the phone and is seen hitting a few commands. Giddings was heard asking from the back of a police car if the video was still on his phone to which Burnett replied, "I don't know."
After going public with the incident in June, it was revealed that Giddings recovered the video through his iCloud. The Philadelphia Police Department launched an internal investigation and placed Burnett on administrative leave, while Giddings filed a lawsuit against Philadelphia PD for excessive force, assault, tampering with evidence, false arrest, and malicious prosecution.
Officer Burnett has been charged with evidence tampering, attempted official oppression, and obstruction of justice. He's also been suspended for 30 days and is expected to be fired after his suspension.
Source: TMZ
