AUBURN, Washington — An Auburn police officer has been placed on administrative leave after video of a Wednesday afternoon arrest on one of the city's busiest roads showed him sitting on top of a man in the roadway and repeatedly punching him in the head and face, in footage the department itself has now released to the public.
Source: Daily Mail reporting, via InterNewsCast
The officer is Andrew Bryant of the Auburn Police Department. The man arrested is Mauro Alberto Felix Valles, identified by relatives. Auburn is a city in King and Pierce counties south of Seattle, and the arrest happened at about 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, near Auburn Way North and 37th Street Northeast — a commercial stretch where motorists stopped in traffic as the struggle unfolded in the road.
What happened first: a man in traffic, a Taser, then a struggle
Police say officers were dispatched after reports that a shirtless man was running in and out of traffic and trying to get into passing vehicles. An 18-minute video released by police shows the man crossing several lanes as drivers slowed and manoeuvred around him, according to the reporting on the released footage. Bryant approached him in the road, repeatedly ordering him to get on the ground — 'Hey, you're under arrest. Get on the ground! Do it now!' can be heard on the recording — and warning that he would use his Taser if the man did not comply.
When Valles kept walking, Bryant fired the Taser and the man went down on the pavement. The confrontation did not end there. Bryant climbed onto him and tried to pull his arms behind his back to handcuff him; police say the man twisted and resisted. It was during that struggle that Bryant began striking him repeatedly in the head and face. KIRO Newsradio's review of the recordings put the count at approximately 20 punches over about 32 seconds; other reporting described more than 20 seconds of blows. Bryant's body-worn camera fell off during the struggle, though it kept recording audio.
It ultimately took four officers to restrain Valles and get him into handcuffs, and firefighters were called to help calm him afterwards. Both men were taken to local hospitals for evaluation. Police initially said Valles did not appear to have suffered serious injuries; his relatives later said he had sustained a concussion and other physical injuries — a claim the investigations, not the videos alone, will have to settle. Bryant received treatment for significant injuries to his own hands, sustained, according to the reporting, from the force of the punches.
What the department says, and the two investigations now running
The Auburn Police Department released body-worn camera, dashboard camera and traffic surveillance footage after the arrest, and said in a statement: 'We understand the concern surrounding the October 28 incident.' It confirmed that 'the officer involved in the incident on Auburn Way North and 37th ST NE was placed on administrative leave yesterday pending a full investigation,' and added: 'The Auburn Police Department takes all officer-involved incidents seriously and treats these investigations with the utmost urgency. We are committed to conducting a thorough and impartial investigation, maintaining transparency throughout the process, and ensuring fair treatment for everyone involved.'
Source: Auburn Police Department statement, reported by KIRO via KORD
Two tracks are now running. The department is conducting its own internal review of whether Bryant's use of force followed Auburn policy. Separately, reporting on the released footage says the encounter has prompted an independent criminal investigation by the neighbouring Renton Police Department. Administrative leave is a precaution while those reviews run — it is not a finding that the officer broke policy or the law, and no such finding has been announced.
The other side of the encounter: family says a mental-health crisis
Valles's family said he was experiencing a serious mental-health crisis during the incident — context that does not by itself decide whether the force was lawful, but that will be central to how the case is judged in public and, potentially, in the reviews. Police booked him on allegations of non-felony drug possession, disorderly conduct, obstruction and attempted assault. Those are allegations, not convictions: he posted bond and was released from custody on Thursday, and by Friday prosecutors had not filed formal criminal charges against him, according to the reporting.
The released footage establishes the sequence — the calls about a man in traffic, the commands, the Taser, the struggle and about 20 punches — because the department published it itself. What it cannot establish alone is the legal question the investigations must answer: whether each use of force was justified by the resistance officers say they faced, and whether it complied with Auburn's own use-of-force policy. That is why the punch count, the man's injuries and the officer's account all matter, and why no conclusion should be drawn before Renton and the department report.
Why this matters beyond one intersection
Auburn Way North is the kind of arterial that Punjabi and other immigrant families across the South King County corridor drive daily — between homes, jobs, gurdwaras and trucking routes feeding the ports and warehouses of the Seattle-Tacoma area. Police encounters that begin with a person in crisis in traffic are exactly the calls where body-camera transparency is tested: here, unusually, the department released multiple camera angles within days, and an outside agency is reported to be examining the criminal side. For residents, the credibility of that process — and how fast its findings are published — will decide whether the release of the video is remembered as accountability or as damage control.
What happens next
Bryant remains on administrative leave while the internal review and the reported Renton criminal investigation proceed; neither has a published deadline. Prosecutors must still decide whether to file formal charges against Valles arising from the October 28 encounter, and the investigations must decide the separate question of the officer's force. The department has promised transparency through the process, and FOX 13 Seattle reported the newly released multi-angle video on Friday, October 30 as public scrutiny intensified.
Source: FOX 13 Seattle, via FOX