Newly released body camera video shows moments before college student's Douglass Park arrest

CHICAGO - Newly released Chicago police body camera video is providing new insight into the July 4th arrest of 19-year-old college student and football player Quotangelo Temples during a teen takeover in Douglass Park, while raising new questions about what happened in the moments before officers took him into custody.

New body camera video of teen's arrest released

The backstory:

The 33-second video captures officers responding to the chaotic gathering in the 1300 block of South Fairfield Avenue as fireworks explode and crowds scatter. Officers can be heard repeatedly yelling, "Move! Move! Move!" while making arrests.

The footage also corrects one detail in our original report.

Initially, a young man wearing a white shirt was identified by family as Temples. Temples has clarified that the person in the white shirt was his teenage brother, a minor who was arrested that night. According to the family, the charges against his brother were later dropped.

The newly released body camera footage shows Temples wearing a black shirt as he approaches officers who are in the middle of another arrest.

The video shows officers stopping Temples and ordering him to back away. One officer can then be heard saying, "Put him in cuffs."

What happens immediately afterward is less clear.

For several seconds, portions of the body camera audio drop out as Temples becomes surrounded by officers before he is eventually arrested.

Temples, who has consistently maintained he went to Douglass Park only to get his younger brother to leave, says the newly released footage supports his account.

"I feel like from the video we can see everything now. They say I came up aggressively and swung at them and did all type of stuff. When I walked up, my hands were still at my sides and I didn't come up charged or swinging at anybody. When I walked up, they first initially pushed me. Once they pushed me, I pushed them back. We got to shoving each other from there and as we are shoving each other I got struck twice in my eye and that was it."

Temples has denied ever punching or battering an officer.

In an earlier interview with FOX Chicago, he said officers made physical contact first.

"In the video, you can see that they pushed me first, pushed me back on the car. After the first push, every other cop started to push me afterwards," Temples said.

Photos previously obtained by FOX Chicago showed Temples with significant facial injuries after the arrest. He says he suffered a fractured eye socket, facial swelling and a head injury after being struck by an officer.

"I got an injury from a cop just hitting me in my eye. After like two or three pushes, I got hit... struck... with a fist."

Chicago police have said Temples battered a peace officer while officers were attempting to disperse the large crowd gathered during the teen takeover.

Temples denies those allegations and says the July 4 incident was his first encounter with law enforcement.

"When the news came out, the mugshot I had friends texting me saying am I ok. I still think about it to this day. That's the first time that happened in my life, I never got engaged with the police ever," Temples said. 

What's next:

Despite preparing to leave for college, Temples continues to fight the criminal case from campus.

He faces two charges:

• Aggravated battery to a peace officer, a felony.
• Resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

He says he is now appearing in court virtually while attending school.

Temples says he hopes the charges are eventually dismissed and believes the officers involved should be held accountable.

"I feel like they should be held accountable," he said.

Temples remains charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer and resisting or obstructing a peace officer. He continues to deny the allegations. 

As the criminal case moves forward, the newly released body camera video is now part of the evidence surrounding what happened that night.