Black business owner reports robbery, is punched by officer

An Alabama liquor store owner, who was punched by a police officer after being mistaken for a robbery suspect, is calling on the Decatur Police Department to release body camera footage of the encounter.

Carl Cole, an attorney representing the owner, Kevin Penn, today released about 16 minutes of surveillance footage from Star Spirits & Beverages, including the moments when Decatur police Officer Justin Rippen punched Penn in the face.

Rippen declined to comment. The 27-year-old officer was put on desk duty on June 8, a day after video footage of the punch was leaked on social media, a city spokeswoman confirmed.

The situation happened on the evening of March 15 when Decatur police were called to investigate a report of a robbery at the liquor store on Sixth Avenue.

Penn says police were called because he caught someone trying to steal from his store and Penn held the man at gunpoint. A friend of Penn’s called police from inside the store, Cole said.

So far, the city of Decatur has declined to release the video footage recorded by police body cameras. The police department played an edited clip of the body camera video at a news conference the day after the online video surfaced.

In the police video, Penn is heard saying he doesn’t have to put down his gun. Rippen then immediately walks up and punches the man in the face, the video footage shows.

“He wasn’t refusing to put his gun down,” Cole said. “He’d already put his gun down.”

The case became public when a clip of the surveillance video was published on social media earlier this month.

The full surveillance footage released today by Cole appears to show Penn wasn’t holding a gun when police rushed in and one punched Penn.

The surveillance footage does not include audio but shows Penn holding his gun around the 1:19 mark, when his lawyer says he was pursuing a suspected thief.

Penn re-enters the camera view around the 5-minute mark and is seen motioning to someone outside the frame. Cole said Penn was waving to the officers, pointing them to the suspect and making sure they knew he was armed.

Penn then removed the magazine from his handgun and left the gun on the counter, Cole said.

The video appears to show Penn holding the magazine in his left hand, and his right hand is empty when police enter the camera frame. Decatur police Chief Nate Allen has said officers may have believed the magazine in Penn’s left hand was a gun. The chief also said Penn moved his hand over a gun.

All the while, Cole says, the gun was left on the counter in front of Penn’s friend. Police didn’t collect the gun until more than a minute after punching Penn, taking him to the ground and putting him in handcuffs.

As a result of the punch, Penn suffered a broken jaw and some of his teeth were knocked out, Cole. Penn underwent several weeks of treatment, including having his mouth wired shut, his lawyer said.

Police charged Penn with a misdemeanor count of obstructing governmental operations. In court records, police said Penn obstructed their investigation of a robbery.

But police have since said no robbery occurred. Rather, the man held at gunpoint was suspected of shoplifting, police said. That man was charged with possession of a concealed weapon without a permit and possession of drug paraphernalia, but not with shoplifting. Police said Penn would have to file a warrant because they did not witness it.

We verified Officer Rippen’s identity through a public records request to the city of Decatur. We viewed Rippen’s personnel file, which shows he’s worked for the Decatur Police Department since May of 2016. His law enforcement career began at the Tuscaloosa Police Department after he graduated from the police academy on April 21, 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Alabama, according to his resume.

But the city has declined to release other records, including Rippen’s internal police department file. His human resources personnel file doesn’t include any performance reviews, complaints or disciplinary actions.

We is also seeking copies of the 911 call and all unedited body camera video of the incident at the liquor store. City Attorney Herman Marks said releasing the video could impact the criminal case against Penn or other legal action, such as a lawsuit.

Marks acknowledged that the police department had already shown a clip of the video footage but said he didn’t believe that portion would affect the legal actions.

He said the police department chose to show that snippet to change the narrative surrounding the case, which made national news headlines after the initial leak of surveillance footage.