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Body camera videos show different side of that violent Villa Rica arrest

Authorities released the video to show transparency.

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. -- Villa Rica authorities released body camera videos that show the moments a suspect is pinned against a car as officers strike him.

It's three against one. The arrest received a lot of attention after a bystander's video surfaced online showing officers using force to arrest 27-year-old Tyler Reynolds outside Stix Bar and Grill.

The Villa Rica Police Officers were cleared of any wrong-doing but the arrest is sparking a lot of debate on Snapchat and Facebook.

Police said that the suspect began resisting them when he learned that they intended to arrest him. The newly-released body camera videos show more clearly what happened. Especially what happened before the video that was posted to Snapchat began.

Authorities released the video to show transparency.

According to police, Villa Rica officers were called to the location three separate times during the day for the same person and gave warnings to Reynolds instead of arresting him.

The fist two minutes of the clip show one of those times when officers arrived and asked him to leave after he allegedly did not pay for the food he ordered.

Officer: Did you order this food?

Suspect: Yes.

Officer: You can either pay for it or you can go to jail. It's pretty simple.

A restaurant worker tells the officers they will pay Reynolds’ bill, they just want him to leave. So the officers tell Reynolds to leave and he does.

The next two parts of the body camera shows when officers arrest Reynolds.

RELATED | Department backs officers after video shows them hitting suspect

Authorities said Reynolds was still there when they were called out yet again by reports that he was harassing customers, asking for drugs, and refusing to leave. At this point, officers offered to give him a ride to any nearby address he wanted, out of town; he could take the ride, or he could take a ride to jail, under arrest. The body cam videos show officers repeatedly telling Reynolds he had a choice, just let them know what he wanted to do. Reynolds kept refusing to answer, insisting he'd never done anything wrong in the first place. Officers then tried to handcuff him, telling him he was under arrest.

Officer: tTrn around and put your hands behind your back.

Suspect: No.

As Reynolds resists, that's when things get physical.

Officer: Quit resisting! Now you are going to jail for obstruction.

Officer: Give us your hands.

In the video, you see an officer using his elbow and forearm -- not his fist -- to hit the suspect in the back -- not on his head -- which the chief said is what they're trained to do. He also points out that the other officer kneed the suspect in the side of the suspect’s leg, that's also a part of their training.

“Based on what we’ve seen the officers acted properly," Chief Michael Mansour said.

You see them place Reynolds in the patrol car.

Suspect: Can I ask a question?

Officer: Hold him right there.

Officer: Now don't get kicked.

Suspect: Why is it not okay to ask a question?

Officer: Move your [expletive] foot in.

Tyler Reynolds

Authorities arrested Reynolds and charged him with criminal trespass - and then obstruction for the actions that followed. The last part of the clip shows Reynolds sitting in the back of the patrol car where he is alert and, the officers said later, apologized to them.

“He was not injured, he did not request any medical attention… nobody was injured, that’s the main thing," Mansour said.

People who had seen only the bystanders’ video over the weekend debated on social media whether the officers used excessive force. Chief Mansour is confident that the body-cam videos released show that the officers acted appropriately in the way they arrested Reynolds.

In addition to his existing charges, Reynolds is also a registered sex offender who was added to the registry in 2014 for statutory rape. It's unclear how - or if - that status will impact him.

For now, he's still being held on $4,500 bond.

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