Father Acquitted After Cellphone Video Incident

You stay tight. He's gonna get aggressive.

With the stool, you're-

Hey, you know what that is?

Stop! Stop! Stop!

He like, he like you. He like, he like-

Dad, just stop. You're

gonna hurt him. You're .

It was going on good, y'all. I ain't gonna lie.

What happened?

Stop, you guys. Just stop it.

It was going on good, I ain't gonna lie.

A Walker County father says he'd be in prison if it wasn't for

cellphone video that was recorded by his young son.

Jafari Stewart was charged with assault on a peace officer

until last week, when a jury acquitted him.

ABC 13's Brandon Hamilton is live this morning with that video

and the father's reaction to the decision. Good morning to you, Brandon.

Uh, good morning to you Samika, and Rita as well.

So the video that you mentioned is the only video that we have seen.

We did reach out to the police department for body cam video, but that

request was denied, the department saying because of the two

misdemeanor cases still pending from this same

arrest. Now, Jafari Stewart says this was back in March of last year.

Two Huntsville officers knocked on his door saying they

were there to investigate,

quote, "A welfare concern regarding children." So

this cellphone video

you're seeing, he says, was recorded by his 12-year-old son.

Stewart claims the officers pushed past him when he wouldn't let them

in. You see here, he appears to jerk his shoulder.

An officer loses his balance during this arrest, which is

something a former police detective told us could be seen as

assault. Police claim Stewart spat on one officer

and

pushed him into a wall. Last week, a jury found him not

guilty of assault on a peace officer and harassment of a

public servant.

It don't matter

how much. Like, just listening to my, my daughter

cry,

and she's like, like somebody's killing her.

My seven-year-old son

telling the cops that he didn't even do anything.

Um, and then having to ask my 12-year-old son,

who saved my life, to record it is just like

... I don't wish that on nobody.

And so he still faces charges of resisting and failing to

identify himself. We reached out to Huntsville PD for a

statement.

They told us in part, quote, "We stand behind our officers."