Donovan Tanner, a member of the Navajo Nation, says a police officer in Farmington, New Mexico, targeted him because he is American Indian.

Tanner, 22, was struck in the head and the neck by San Juan County sheriff's deputy Dale Frazier on March 17. His head was also slammed on the hood of a police vehicle.

The incident was captured on Frazier's in-car patrol camera. Another officer was present but didn't stop Frazier, according to a lawsuit that was filed in federal court.

"The Defendants committed assault and battery on (Tanner), and choked him and struck him with a flashlight," the lawsuit states, The Farmington Daily Times reported. "The unlawful detention and arrest and the assault and battery were motivated by discrimination based on (Tanner's) ethnicity and appearance."

The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission has condemned Frazier's actions. "This is one event, probably of thousands upon thousands of times this has happened," said Leonard Gorman, the commission's executive director, told the Times in an April 9 story.

The Farmington police department is investigating the incident but hasn't disciplined Frazier, the paper said. In a separate incident, Frazier is being accused of impersonating an attorney to a man who was being held on drunken driving charges.

Get the Story:
American Indian man files lawsuit in beating (The Farmington Daily Times 4/23)
Police beating caught on video (The Navajo Times 4/14)