Las Vegas police said that there is no evidence to Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett's accusation that he was racially profiled by the department during an incident outside a casino.
Las Vegas Police Department undersheriff Kevin McMahill held a news conference Wednesday to respond to Bennett's allegations, which he revealed earlier in the day.
"Many of the folks today have called this a incident of bias-based policing, police officers focusing solely on the race of an individual that they’re going to stop," McMahill said. "I can tell you as I stand here today, I see no evidence of that. I see no evidence that race played any role in this incident."
The officer who apprehended Bennett didn't have his body camera on and it was not immediately clear why, McMahil lsaid. He added there are 126 videos from the officers that will be reviewed, and if those reveal that "any policies or training was violated, those officers will be held accountable."
In a social media post, Bennett claimed he was singled out for "simply being a black man." He added that "the officers' excessive use of force was unbearable."
Officers responded to reports of a possible active shooter in the casino around 1:30 on Aug. 27 after the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight.
According to McMahill, the officers claimed that Bennett was crouched down behind a gaming machine and then was spotted running.
“You hear the officer approaching the door saying, ‘There he is.’ He gives chase, Mr. Bennett jumped over the wall, our officer jumped went over the wall immediately there after,” McMahill said. He said Bennett was detained for 10 minutes and released.
Bennett said he was not given "any justification" for his apprehension.
McMahill said the department is asking citizens who taped the incident on their phones to send footage to the internal affairs department.
McMahill said the department didn't learn about Bennett's allegations until the social media post went up. He asked Bennett to contact the internal affairs office to detail his accusations.
