Footage renews dispute over Aug. 2 arrest
Newly released body-camera and surveillance video of an Aug. 2 arrest in East Lansing has produced sharply different reactions, reopening a dispute over police conduct outside Harper’s Restaurant and Brew Pub. The East Lansing Police Department released the footage Tuesday after video recorded by a bystander spread on social media and prompted public outrage. City officials had said shortly after the first video circulated that it did not show the entire incident.
The footage centers on the arrest of 20-year-old Myana Collins. According to the released video, officers were trying to remove Collins from Harper’s after the business had ordered her to leave. When she attempted to go back through the entrance, an officer grabbed her purse and pulled her away from the doorway. A physical struggle followed as additional officers became involved.
During that struggle, an officer appears to use a Taser on Collins four times. Later in the recording, the officer says the darts bounced off. The video then shows officers handcuffing Collins and carrying her down a staircase before placing her on the ground. While officers were restraining her, she appears to reach for the pants of one officer. That officer then strikes her several times in the arm and shouts at her to let go.
Different readings of officer conduct
The footage has not produced a single consensus about whether the officers used excessive force. James McCurtis Jr., president of the Lansing NAACP branch, said the additional video did not alter his assessment of the arrest. His criticism focused on the number of officers surrounding Collins and the strikes delivered after she was face down and restrained.
“I think it is still appalling seeing 5 or 6 police officers surrounding a Black woman who is detained face down on the ground and beaten,” McCurtis said. “I mean, she's punched 3 or 4 times.”
Steve Dolunt, a retired assistant chief of the Detroit Police Department, offered a more divided assessment. He said the officers appeared to handle the initial part of the encounter appropriately, while raising concerns about what occurred after Collins was taken down the stairs. In particular, he questioned the decision to lift and cross her legs while she was lying on her stomach and the presence of an officer kneeling on her back.
Dolunt said that positioning can create a risk of positional asphyxiation, in which a person’s body position interferes with breathing. His comments distinguish between the beginning of the encounter, when officers were attempting to remove Collins from the business, and the later restraint on the ground. The available report does not provide a medical finding or a final determination about whether Collins suffered an injury.
Why the release matters locally
The release gives residents a fuller record than the initial bystander video, but it has not resolved the central disagreement over the arrest. The two perspectives presented in the footage’s public reaction reflect a broader question for the Lansing region: how officers should respond when a person resists removal from a business, and what level of force remains appropriate after that person is handcuffed and on the ground.
- Location: Harper’s Restaurant and Brew Pub in East Lansing
- Incident date: Aug. 2
- Person arrested: Myana Collins, 20
- Video released: Body-camera and surveillance footage
For East Lansing and neighboring Lansing communities, the controversy now turns on how the released record is interpreted and whether it changes public confidence in the police department. The footage documents the sequence that was disputed after the first video appeared, while comments from McCurtis and Dolunt show that the same recording can lead to sharply different conclusions about force, restraint and accountability. No additional determination is provided in the available report.
