Seabrook officer accused of slamming man on the ground at closed apartment complex pool

SEABROOK, Texas (KTRK) -- A Seabrook police officer came under attack, forcing him to fight off two people at a pool party, according to Seabrook Police Chief Sean Wright.

It was just after 10 p.m. Monday at the pool at the Villas by the Bay apartment complex on NASA Parkway when Chief Wright says the pool party ended with a fight involving one of his officers.

Cell phone video shows the officer struggling with a man and then body slamming him. A female juvenile then punches the officer from behind.

Chief Wright says the incident lasted several minutes. The video is only 19 seconds.

Johnathan Johnson says he suffered scratches and bruises from the body slam and only resisted because he did not know the man confronting him and his friends was a police officer.

"He was in an Under Armour T-shirt and shorts, no badge. We did not know he was an officer at all," said Johnson, who was arrested for resisting arrest.

Johnson and his friends were admittedly at the pool after hours. Seabrook police say the officer was asked by the complex management to get them out. He was in plain clothes. The chief says he identified himself as an officer. Johnson says he did not and would have never touched him had he known.

"No, of course not. Who in their right mind would? I respect the law. I do," he said. "I thought he worked for the apartments or I was getting robbed."

In a statement to Eyewitness News, Chief Wright supports the officer's actions:

"The video clip does not show the entire time the suspect was actively resisting. At times the suspect was in different positions fighting the officer. The Seabrook Officer was able to detain and hold the suspect until other officers from the Seabrook Police Department arrived. Not only did the suspect fight with the officer, the officer had to be aware of his surroundings as the suspect's associates were around him and posed a danger. The video shows a juvenile female assault the officer. This action by the juvenile female was a serious threat. While being hit from behind the officer maintained contact with the suspect. The incident took several minutes but the video shows a brief moment in the arrest of the resisting suspect."

Johnson was released from jail Wednesday. He has no prior criminal history in Harris County. Resisting arrest is a misdemeanor.

"What was done to me was wrong and I don't want it to happen to anyone else," he said.