Daniel Patrykus had a feeling something bad was about to happen.
As he walked up to the East Towne Mall food court entrance Tuesday afternoon, he was approached by a young, agitated black woman. She had just been arguing with security guards, who were trying to get her to leave.
What happened moments later would become national news, thanks to Patrykus. With his cellphone, Patrykus filmed two white officers violently arresting Genele Laird, who works at the hat store Lidz in the mall. As of Thursday, his video had been watched more than 2 million times, sparking renewed criticism of the use of force by the Madison Police Department. Laird is facing charges of disorderly conduct while armed, resisting police (causing injury), battery to police officer and discharge of bodily fluids.
Patrykus, a 19-year-old from Fond du Lac, was at the mall Tuesday night with a mutual friend of Laird’s. Patrykus spoke to Laird shortly before her arrest. “The person I’m with knows [Laird] — they’re friends — so [Laird] comes over and starts talking with us,” he tells Isthmus in a phone interview.
After the confrontation with mall security, Patrykus feared the worst from the cops. “I tell her, ‘You should probably just leave. Just leave because the police are going to come and it’s going to turn out bad,’” he says. “And she was like, ‘No, I was the one that called the police, so I’m going to stay.’”
According to police, officers responded to a call at 5:15 p.m. from mall security about a woman described as "out of control and making threats” in the food court. Laird allegedly confronted someone she believes stole her phone. Mall security claims she then displayed a knife and made threats. When asked to leave, Laird allegedly threatened to kill the security staff.
Police spokesman Joel DeSpain says police did not get a call from Laird about a stolen phone from the mall. “The only call made to dispatch regarding the disturbance from [East Towne] was by mall security reporting a disturbance and that they were threatened by a female,” DeSpain writes in an email. “Laird did not make a phone call to dispatch/911 from the mall regarding her phone.”
DeSpain says that a report about a stolen phone was made to police in Marshall, a village about 30 miles from Madison. He adds, “it does not appear that it was reported to them prior to MPD’s response for the disturbance. Marshall PD would be the investigating agency, if it was reported to them.”
When Madison police arrived at the mall Tuesday, Patrykus pulled out his cellphone and began recording. “And then, well, I guess the video shows the rest.”
Patrykus’ video shows Laird, 18, being restrained by one officer when another pulls up in a squad car. When the second officer exits his vehicle and joins the struggle, it quickly escalates. The second officer strikes Laird in the leg several times with his knee, as the officers bring her to the sidewalk. The officers Taser, punch and knee Laird several times.
Patrykus was stunned by the encounter. “The police brutality surprised me — which is why I was glad I recorded it and was able to get it out there to show everybody,” he says.
“She could have handled it a better way,” he adds of Laird. “She went in to accuse her co-worker of stealing her phone and things got out of hand, security kicked her out and she refused to leave.”
Patrykus says he saw the knife Laird allegedly threatened people with shortly before being arrested. “I saw it when she was over by us talking, but she didn’t have it out when the police were there,” he says. “She put it back in her pocket.”
After the video went viral, Facebook users across the nation complained that posts they had shared to their accounts from Patrykus’ page had disappeared. Many suspected that the Madison Police Department had something to do with the video’s disappearance, but that is not the case.
Patrykus says Facebook deactivated his account for violating its community standards of identity authentication because he goes by the name “RichBoy Robinson” on the site instead of his real name.
A Facebook spokeswoman — who ironically asked that her name not be used — confirmed that Patrykus’ page was deactivated after a complaint about the authenticity of his name, but she would not disclose who made the complaint.
Because others’ posts were linked to Patrykus’ video, their posts also disappeared, she added.
Under Facebook rules, users whose names are questioned can reactivate their accounts if they agree to send an image proving their identity to the social media site within seven days.
Patrykus temporarily reactivated his account, which led to all other linked posts reappearing. He says he will likely not authenticate his account. That means his posts will again disappear after the seven-day waiting period, says the Facebook spokeswoman.
Patrykus has since posted the video to a YouTube account.
As of Thursday afternoon, the video had been viewed 70,000 times on YouTube. On Facebook, it has 2 million views.
Patrykus says he’s sad and angry about the incident but glad he helped get the word out about it.
“I think it should be shared with the world, and civil action should be taken against those officers,” he says. “Not only because it’s a black person and I’m black and we’ve had so much of a problem with police, but it’s police brutality, and it’s not right. It goes against the Constitution. It’s just not right.”
Patrykus has gotten a lot of attention over the video. “I’ve gotten thousands of messages,” he says.
One of those messages apparently came from the Madison police.
On Wednesday, a private message that appears to be from the Madison Police Department’s Facebook page to Patrykus stated, “I am a detective with the Madison Police Department. Please call me...I am looking to talk to you about the incident at East Towne Mall on 6/21/16.”
Patrykus replied: “I’d rather not.”
