A St. Louis police officer lit a cigar as he straddled a suspect he had detained on the ground, forcing the department to launch an investigation into the viral incident.
Footage posted online captured the officer borrowing a lighter from another officer for the stogie outside Marquee Restaurant & Lounge last weekend in St. Louis, according to the RiverFrontTimes.
The officer, who was not identified, was seen with his right arm on the suspect’s chest while he lit the cigar with his free hand.
Bystanders and the suspect joked with the officer that they also had lighters to offer.
“Pull your lighter out, bro,” one witness who filmed the exchange quipped. “No, don’t pull it out. They might think you got a gun.”
At one point, the suspect, lying on his back, attempted to free his hands.
The officer, however, used his free hand to grab the suspect’s arms and restricted his movement.
“Put that man hat one, at least you can do,” the witness pleaded with the man.
The video, which has been seen more than 262,000 times, was first uploaded to Instagram by votp_news.
The officer had been working his second job at the popular nightspot in downtown St. Louis, roughly a mile from the historic Gateway Arch, the department confirmed to the outlet.
Lounge employees had requested the officer to remove the man from the venue moments before the video was recorded.
The suspect was taken into custody for trespassing on private property and resisting arrest, the outlet reported.
Some of the responding officers to the scene were wearing body cameras but the footage hasn’t been released publicly yet.
After the video went viral, the SLMPD opened up an internal investigation into the incident to “better understand the circumstances of the situation, what led up to the video and the events that transpired after,” the department said, according to KTVI.
No injuries were reported.
It was not clear what date and time the smoke-filled detainment took place.
