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Police: Body-camera livestream shows man randomly attacking Orlando officer

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando police officer is recovering after investigators said a man attacked him, completely unprovoked.

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It happened while the officer was on crossing guard duty on John Young Parkway and West Harwood Street, next to the Greyhound bus station.

The attack was captured on the officer’s body camera video.

According to the police department, the officer was sitting in his patrol car around 4:20 p.m. when a man approached and began banging on the car.

READ: Police: Orlando officer injured in ‘unprovoked’ attack while working crossing guard duty

Police said the officer called for assistance then got out of his car. That’s when the suspect, later identified as 33-year-old James Mossetty, physically attacked the officer.

The officer Mossetty attacked was taken to a hospital as a precaution and was released on Thursday.

Mossetty was also taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries before he was booked into the Orange County Jail, police said.

The body camera video shows the encounter the officer had with Mossetty.

It appears the officer was sitting in his patrol car, keeping an eye on a crosswalk when Mossetty started banging on his window.

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The video shows the officer call for backup and engage with Mossetty.

When Mossetty took an aggressive stance, the officer ordered him to the ground, deployed his taser twice and sprayed him with a chemical agent.

But none of that stopped Mossetty.

That’s when it turned into a physical fight.

The police department pulled up the livestream from the officer’s body camera, which helped it to send backup right away.

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It took several officers to bring Mossetty down and arrest him.

Police Chief Orlando Rolon said they still don’t know why Mossetty seemingly targeted the officer at random and refused to back down. Records show Mossetty was arrested for trespassing last year after leaving the behavioral health unit at ORMC. Officials say a few days later he got into a similar fight with deputies at the Orange County Jail.

Eyewitness News first told you last year that the Orlando Police Department invested $6.4 million in the body cameras, which have the ability to livestream.

The state-of-the-art technology came in handy during the attack.

Mossetty has been charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, depriving an officer of their means of communication, and resisting an officer with violence.

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