Dave Herman: ‘The cops treated me like a dog’

Former UFC heavyweight fighter Dave Herman was shot with a taser and then arrested by police early Tuesday morning in Indiana.

The heavyweight competitor was released on $7,500 bail later that night.

Herman now faces three charges including resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, battery against law enforcement, neglect of a dependent and resisting law enforcement.

Herman’s wife Madeleine captured the arrest on video and then posted it online.

The video seemed to contradict some of what was in the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department incident report. The document stated that Herman was “aggressive” toward police. But in the video, Herman got out of the vehicle with his hands up, asking the officers for identification.

“I was trying to communicate with the officers,” Herman told MMAFighting.com on Thursday. “They were screaming and threatening my life. There’s no reason I should be treated like a dog. I’m a human being. I’m a person. I have feelings, too. I have a right to know who these people are.”

Herman said he learned in driver’s ed that the correct procedure when being pulled over by cops is to find a safe, well-lit area and that’s all he was trying to do:

“I literally did it by the book,” Herman said. “Like, that’s what you’re supposed to do and I’m being charged.”

Herman said he got out of his car to address the officers thinking they would be able to assist him with his car trouble.

“I did not feel like I was aggressive at all,” Herman said. “I was pleading. I said please identify yourself to me. Who are you? I stepped out of my vehicle literally thinking these people are going to help me and this is what I got.”

He continued:

“If you assume, then you make an ass out of you and me,” Herman said. “You can assume a lot of things, but you can’t know for sure. Anyone can buy a car. Anyone can buy an outfit. Anyone can buy a nametag. Anyone can buy a toy fake badge. I dressed up as a cop for Halloween one time, it was awesome.”

Herman said he was also fearing for the safety of his infant son and wife. He said that everything the officers did is what he is being charged for:

“They verbally assaulted me, they physically assaulted me and they endangered the life of my wife and child,” Herman said. “Those are the charges they’re saying I did. All those things they did to me and then they charged me with them. I want them dropped and I don’t even think these people should be police officers. It’s ridiculous. You should automatically be fired for something like that. But I’m sure they’ll just get a slap on the wrist and maybe a week or two paid vacation.”

“I’ve never been involved with police where it’s been a calm environment,” Herman said. “There’s flashlights in your face — ‘Who are you? What are you doing?’ It’s not a calm environment. It’s a very threatening, interrogational environment. Is it protect and serve or harass and assault?”

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