New video shows Fort Worth man convulsing before controversial arrest

Fort Worth police have new video as part of the investigation into excessive force claims during a man's arrest Saturday.

The new video shows the state Forrest Curry was in when residents at a Fort Worth apartment complex called 911 about him and others. The callers claimed they were doing drugs.

The excessive force claims were made after a short video circulated online showing an officer punching Curry while trying to detain and handcuff him.

Fort Worth police defended their actions and released the full body camera video of Curry's arrest, showing the struggle and the manpower needed to get a defiant Curry to comply.

The new cell phone obtained by FOX 4 on Thursday shows Curry foaming at the mouth and convulsing on a stairway Saturday at the Springbrook Apartments.

Mary Smith, a resident who recorded the video, says she shot it in hopes of later showing it to Curry.

"So I could show him what exactly happens to him when he's under,” Smith said. “Because they don't believe that they go into convulsions, and they're not really there. They don't believe it. They think they smoke it and they stay out, but they don't."

Smith says about an hour before she found Curry, her son was taken to the hospital after smoking the synthetic marijuana drug K-2 at the same apartments. She says that same joint was then passed around to others.

“And they're in pain and they're fighting something that they see in their mind,” Smith said.

It prompted several calls to 911 from apartment complex residents.

Curry was later taken into custody after police say they chased him three blocks. Fort Worth police released body camera video on Tuesday showing Curry strongly resisting and ignoring officers' commands.

Police say it took five Fort Worth officers more than four minutes to get Curry into handcuffs. But it was a short 45-second video recorded by a passer-by that sparked outrage from community groups after it started circulating online over the weekend.

Activists and Curry's attorney claimed the punches are excessive force. Police defended the tactics when they released the full body camera video. They called the punches “distractionary strikes” to get Curry to release his hands, adding officers were trained to do so and acted appropriately.

Police say paramedics told them Curry tried to assault them when they tried to treat him. Curry's attorney maintains what happened in this video was a medical seizure.

A fire department medic at the scene had a different assessment than Curry's attorney.

"He was coming up out of K-2 and he was pissed off because we were working on him,” the medic said. “Something about his shoe and complaining about a jacket. I have no idea. But he went after everybody in the complex, including us."

Curry's attorney says the video "further proves our claim that Mr. Curry had a seizure and was suffering from a medical emergency."

Fort Worth police are aware of the video and say it will be used as reference in the standard use of force review of this incident.

Curry is charged with evading and resisting arrest.