Police released officer body camera video that shows a different perspective of a brawl at a Fort Lauderdale hotel between an employee and a guest.
The incident happened back in January at the Best Western on Seabreeze Boulevard.
Previously released surveillance footage from the hotel shows 28-year-old Raymond Rachal working at the desk in the lobby when a man walks up to him, pushing past a stanchion.
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Rachal eventually put the man in a headlock and held him for several minutes until police officers arrived. The video shows the officers immediately approach Rachal, pushing him before taking him into custody.
Rachal was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting an officer with violence.
The newly released bodycam showed officers responding before the brawl, when the employee and the guest were already in a dispute.
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Rachal had told officers that the guest was making comments about MLK Day.
Another body camera video shows the officer's perspective walking up to the employee already holding down the guest. The employee backs up as police walk in.
He says to them to not let the guest leave, but the officer is seen focusing his attention on the hotel employee and begins to arrest him, even though the guest had already been told to leave the premises.
Hotel surveillance video shows the guest come back and charge straight toward the desk clerk.
The employee then tries to explain his side of the story in the car before he was booked.
Police ultimately escorted the guest, who they say had been drinking, out of the hotel.
The charges against the hotel employee were ultimately dropped, and the guest was cited for trespassing.
An attorney representing Rachal put in a request to see the new video.
