Little Joe Lageman was walking through his neighborhood in 2024 and ended up abused and arrested at gunpoint by Phoenix police who falsely accused him of being involved in a hit-and-run crash — fracturing his rib and chipping his tooth before throwing him in the back of a patrol car. The 37-yea r-old man, whose legal name is Little Joe, spent five days in the Maricopa County Jail while receiving no medical treatment for his injuries, one of the deadliest jails in the country, with one of the highest rates of in-custody deaths in the country. Little Joe Lageman was walking through his neighborhood when he was falsely accused of being involved in a hit-and-run crash, spending five days in jail. He is now suing. (Photo: Body Camera) He then spent more than a year fighting the fabricated misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and fleeing the scene of an accident before prosecutors dismissed the charges. Meanwhile, Phoenix police — ranked first in the nation in the use of deadly force with a history of racist behavior and profiling — made no effort to find the real suspect, who was described as younger and shorter than Lageman.  ‘Had His Back to the Officer’: Atlanta Cop Shot Man 17 Times as He Urinated Into Bushes — Family Says Bodycam Video Proves It Was Execution – But Investigators Refuse to Release Video to Public Last month, Lageman filed a lawsuit against the Phoenix Police Department, accusing officers of excessive force and violating his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights. “That day, I felt like I was gonna lose my life,” Lageman said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. Body cam video posted below shows a Phoenix police officer confronting him at gunpoint, ordering him to lie on the ground when a second cop arrives and shoves his face into the sidewalk, chipping his tooth. The Arrest The arrest took place on March 9, 2024, after Lageman had an argument with his fiancée at his mother-in-law’s house, prompting him to leave the home on foot. He was on his way to a nearby Kingdom of Jehovah’s Witnesses church to say a prayer, a ritual from childhood, even though he no longer considers himself religious, he explained to the Phoenix New Times. Meanwhile, Phoenix police had just responded to a hit-and-run crash down the street where a dark blue GMC Silverado had rear-ended a parked brown Dodge Ram 1500. But Lageman had no idea what had just taken place as he walked down a residential sidewalk. “Phoenix police, stop, I just got to ask you a question,” said Phoenix police officer Diego Santana as he pulled up in his patrol car and stepped out. Lageman, appearing confused, raised his hands in the air and told the cop he was carrying a gun, which is his legal right in Arizona, where people are allowed openly or concealed carry of firearms without a permit as long as they are 21 years old and do not have a history of felony arrest or other violent tendencies like domestic abuse. Lageman was under no legal obligation to inform the cop he was carrying a gun unless the cop directly asked him if he was carrying, but he did so out of courtesy, keeping his hands in the air — still not knowing why he was being stopped. But Santana pulled out his own gun and pointed it at him, ordering him to place his hands on his head and to face away from him. “Don’t point that gun at me, bro,” Lageman told the cop. “You have a gun, place your hands on your head,” Santana responded. “It’s right there, bro, my hands are up,” lifting his right leg slightly, indicating the gun was in the right pocket of his jeans. “Put your hands up,” the cop ordered, even though his hands were up. “They’re f_cking up,” Lageman responded. “Put your hands on your head,” Santana ordered as if he were playing a game of Simon Says. The Abuse Lageman placed his hands on his head and was then ordered to get down on his knees, but Lageman was reluctant because he still did not know why he was being stopped. “I’m not doing nothing,” Lageman responded. “I’m f_cking walking, bro.” “Go on your knees now, we’re investigating a crime,” Santana responded.  “Don’t point that gun at me, please,” Lageman said, still standing with his hands on his head. “I’m going to do my job and you’re going to stay safe,” Santana said. “You feel unsafe?” Lageman asked. “My gun is in my pocket and you feel unsafe?” Lageman eventually complied by getting down on his knees with his hands still on his head. The cop then ordered him to lie facedown on the ground. “How am I going to get on my stomach if my hands are on my head?” Lageman asked. “Slowly put your hands out in a four-point position,” Santana ordered. “You’re going to f_cking shoot me,” Lageman responded. “If you don’t go for your gun, you’re not going to get shot,” Santana said. Lageman eventually complied by lying facedown on the ground, telling the cop, “That scares the sh_t out of me.” Once he was down, Santana and a second cop named Adrian Samaniego rushed up to him to handcuff him. Body camera video shows one of the cops shoving his face into the ground by placing his hand on the back of Lageman’s head, which was when he chipped his tooth. “For him to just jump the way he did, it threw me off. It threw me 100 percent off,” Lageman told New Times.  “And that’s why I got the way I got, defensively. It’s like, ‘What’s the whole reason for this? If I’m showing (the gun) to you, why are you feeling so threatened?’” The Lies The arresting officers then tried to justify the arrest by creating a false narrative, claiming in the arrest report that Lageman “displayed himself with facial tightening, an intense 1000-yard stare, and a defensive fighting stance.” The police report also states that the cops were looking for a 25-year-old, 5-foot-8 Hispanic man who weighed 160 pounds. Lageman, who is Hispanic, is 37 years old and six feet tall.  But he still spent five days in Maricopa County’s notorious jail, where he had difficulty breathing because of his broken rib, the same jail where a Black man named Akeem Terrell was killed while suffering a mental health episode after cops and deputies piled on top of him, suffocating him to death. “I couldn’t breathe in there, and I couldn’t get out of bed,” he told New Times. “I couldn’t defend myself. I couldn’t protect myself. Being in there just, it threw me for a whole different ballgame.”  Prosecutors offered him a plea deal where he would receive 36 months of probation if he pleaded guilty to the fabricated charges, but he refused the deal, which is why the case remained active for more than a year. Even though the truck driven by the real suspect was registered to another person, Phoenix police made no attempt to question that person. “For the longest time, none of my family believed me that I didn’t do nothing, so it just caused a lot of fights,” he told New Times. “Me having to deal with that court for a whole year was bringing doubts to them.” Lageman’s attorney, Sean Woods, filed a notice of claim against the city, the precursor to a lawsuit, offering to settle the case for $1.25 million, but they rejected it, which is what led to the recent lawsuit. In October, Lageman’s attorney sent a notice of claim to the city of Phoenix, offering to settle his claim for $1.25 million.  The city declined. Lageman is now suing over excessive force and violations of his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights. Santana has been involved in 17 use-of-force incidents in the last five years, according to police records, all of which were found to be within the department’s policy. “The city of Phoenix has had a history of responding to suspects in an excessive manner,” Woods told the New Times. “When we bring a lawsuit like this, not only do we try to get some justice and maybe some finality and closure for my clients, like Little Joe, but we also want to affect some sort of change.” ‘Thought I Was Going to Die’: Black Man Walking Home Slammed, Fractured and Locked Up at Gunpoint Over False Police Claim — Then Survives 5 Days in a Place Few Make It Out Of ...read more read less