SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — A Sacramento police officer has been placed on administrative leave for slamming a jaywalker to the ground and punching him repeatedly in the head. <br /> <br />The brutal beatdown was captured on a cellphone video shot by a woman who caught the tail end of the incident. <br /> <br />Police say a uniformed officer tried to stop the man from jaywalking near the intersection of Cypress Street and Grand Avenue around 5:10 p.m. on Monday, the Sacramento Bee reported. <br /> <br />The officer then got out of his squad car in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood and attempted to speak to the man. <br /> <br />The cop asked the man to stop several times, but he continued to walk away, according to a police news release. <br /> <br /> <br />The two then exchanged words and that’s when the man took off his jacket and challenged the officer to a fight, police said. <br /> <br />That’s when the police officer charged the man and body slammed him to the ground. The officer then punched the pedestrian in the head repeatedly. <br /> <br />Backup then arrived on the scene and the man was handcuffed and taken into custody. <br /> <br />The man was held in the Sacramento Main Jail before being released Tuesday morning, said a police spokesman. <br /> <br />Police have said a criminal investigation of the officer is underway. “The actions of the involved Sacramento Police Officer are disturbing and do not appear to be reasonable based upon the circumstances,” a second news release said.
