Nirenberg said he’s looking into incident after Black jogger arrested by San Antonio police

In a tweet Thursday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he is seeking a full account of what led police to arrest a Black man while he was jogging Tuesday. The photo is a still image from video that captured the incident.

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In a tweet Thursday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he is seeking a full account of what led police to arrest a Black man while he was jogging Tuesday. The photo is a still image from video that captured

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In a tweet Thursday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he is seeking a full account of what led police to arrest a Black man while he was jogging Tuesday. The photo is a still image from video that captured the incident.

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In a tweet Thursday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he is seeking a full account of what led police to arrest a Black man while he was jogging Tuesday.

Nirenberg tweeted the situation needs to be approached “seriously because every resident deserves fair and equitable treatment from their city.”

I am seeking a full accounting of this incident, which is currently under investigation.

We have to approach this situation seriously because every single resident deserves fair and equitable treatment from their city. https://t.co/NeUsAfbdnE

— Mayor Ron | Wear a mask! 😷 (@Ron_Nirenberg) August 28, 2020

Police were in the area of Woodstone Drive on the Northwest Side, searching for a suspect believed to have choked and punched a woman in an nearby apartment complex. As they were searching, they came across 33-year-old Mathias Ometu — an insurance adjuster with no criminal record — who was out jogging.

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Officers told Ometu his outfit matched the description of the suspect and when officers asked for his identification, Ometu refused to provide it. Per the Texas Penal Code, a person being detained or questioned by police is not required to provide identifying information.

But, SAPD officers handcuffed Ometu because he allegedly became aggressive and when they “advised” him to get into the back seat of a patrol car, the man refused, a police report said. They also accused Ometu of kicking the officers as they tried to force him into the patrol car.

The woman who was involved in the altercation was brought to the scene to identify Ometu but she said that he was not the man who assaulted her. Yet, Ometu was still arrested and taken the Municipal Court on South Frio where he was charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer.

A couple who had also been jogging nearby recorded the entire incident, saying Ometu’s only crime was “jogging while Black.”

“It reaffirmed that cops do not de-escalate situations,” said Victor Maas, who recorded the video. “It was shocking how quickly they wanted to get into a fight with a fellow citizen, and how they used their badge and guns to escalate the situation.”

An SAPD spokesperson said the incident was under administrative review.

Individuals on social media began calling for justice for Ometu, shocked that he still sat in the Bexar County Jail on a $20,000 bond.

You’re out for a run, you’re stopped by the police because someone fled the scene of a crime and has a similar description to yours. You did nothing wrong, you’re running on a very popular running path, yet the officers arrest you anyway.

This was Mathias Ometu’s run.

— Justin Horneker (@hornekerjustin) August 28, 2020

This is appalling, he did nothing wrong but went jogging. The cops are responsible and should be fired immediately! Where is the chief of police? How is this allowed? We demand justice for Mathias Ometu.

— jessman (@thejovenpopo) August 28, 2020