Police body cam released after Alpharetta family announced plans to sue
ALPHARETTA, Ga. - One day after an Alpharetta family announced they will file a lawsuit for what they believe was an unjustified arrest, FOX 5 obtained the police body camera video of the incident.
It gives another perspective on what happened outside the family's Alpharetta home over the weekend that left the husband bloodied when he was attacked by a police canine.
WARNING: Some of the video is graphic.
The police body camera video was obtained by FOX 5 after filing a request through the Freedom of Information Act.
Alpharetta police went to Travis Moya's home when his concerned stepson called 911.
"I don't know if he took anything or something, but he's not his normal self," Moya's wife, Kami, can be heard explaining to Alpharetta Police Officer M.J. Esposito on the body camera video. "He's like breathing hard."
Kami Moya went on to say her husband was having a mental breakdown.
Officer Esposito can also be heard on the body camera video warning Travis Moya that his police K-9 will bite him if he doesn't keep his distance.
Travis Moya can also be heard in the background, aggravated, yell "Who called you?" to police.
In the police report, officers say Moya's fists were balled up and he began breathing heavily - although that is not fully visible from the video's vantage point.
What happened next would leave Travis Moya with bloody bite wounds on his left arm when he was bitten by the police K-9.
What led to the attack is explained in a statement to FOX 5. Alpharetta Police say Moya "disregarded warnings, balled up his fist and swung around toward the officers actively offering violence."
Officer Esposito can be heard on the body camera giving the K-9 orders to bite Mr. Moya, at the same time other officers on scene were trying to handcuff Moya's hands behind his back.
"It is disturbing. It is shocking. And it has the same visceral affect that the videos that people saw on TV in the 60s in the civil rights marches when they had dogs set loose on them will have once again," says Moya's attorney, L. Chris Stewart.
In a news conference Thursday, Stewart called for the charges of willful obstruction of law enforcement by use of threats or violence against Moya to be dropped.
Alpharetta Police say the incident is being reviewed.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office says it is collecting evidence to determine whether charges against anyone involved will be sought.
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