BAYTOWN, Texas — Editor's note: The above video of the controversial arrests originally aired on June 4.
A Harris County grand jury Wednesday indicted ex-Baytown police officer Nathaniel Brown, whose videotaped arrest of two bystanders went viral in June.
One of the bystanders was roughed up during the incident.
Brown was indicted for assault, which is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and/ or a $4,000 fine.
“The grand jury has made clear that our community won’t tolerate unnecessary violence by anyone, including police officers,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “We need one standard for everyone and the law must be applied equally in order for people to continue to believe in our justice system.”
Brown, a nine-year veteran of the Baytown Police Department, was fired after the incident on June 2 drew protests.
The confrontation began when Brown and other officers were arresting a driver who stopped outside Baytown Market, a convenience store at 2900 Market St. in Baytown.
Officers handcuffed the 23-year-old man for an alleged traffic violation after he parked near the gas pumps at the store.
Eyewitnesses nearby asked why their friend was being arrested and one man began recording the officers on his cell phone.
Video shows Brown confronting the witnesses and ordering 24-year-old Skylar Gilmore to put his hands behind his back. Then Gilmore was thrown to the ground.
"The officer then used a knee to strike Gilmore in the shoulder and face," Ogg said in a statement.
Gilmore and the man who taping the incident, 23-year-old Isaiah Phillips, were arrested for disorderly conduct-language, for using profanities in public.
“They slammed me on my friend Skylar’s hood, used my face to dent his hood,” Phillips told KHOU 11 News. “That’s not proper.”
The officers also filed a charge against Gilmore for interfering with public duties.
After an investigation by the Harris County District Attorney's office, those charges were dropped.
"We hold all of our officers to very high moral, ethical and professional standards and are committed to holding accountable those who fail to adhere to those standards," the Baytown Police Department said in a statement.