Content warning: This article depicts violence and discusses use of force by police.

When Dariq Myles pulled into a city parking lot in Campustown to park Aug. 12, an Iowa State University Police Department (ISUPD) officer pulled his vehicle behind him, stopping him for tinted windows. The body and dash camera footage from the stop was uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday and showed that the officer, Frankie Contreras, grabbed Myles after he asked for a sergeant on the scene and took him to the ground, tearing his labrum, which required surgery.

“I’ve been scared for my life since the day that it happened,” Myles said in an interview with the Daily.

Myles, who was double majoring in criminal justice and psychology, withdrew his enrollment from Iowa State after what happened in August, citing safety reasons.

“Because of this incident, I never re-enrolled, and honestly, I don’t plan on re-enrolling until something happens with him,” Myles said. “I don’t feel safe. I don’t want to be penalized by a faculty member or staff.”

Myles also said he feared for his life and that he did not want to “become another statistic.”

“That’s why I put my hands up in the video because I was so terrified that he would say that I reached for his gun or something and he will try to kill me in that lot,” Myles said. “I’ve seen that story too many times. I just didn’t want to fall victim to it.”

In a statement sent to the Daily, ISUPD Chief Michael Newton said he understands concerns from the community and that the department conducts a “thorough review any time an officer uses force.”

“While the review concluded that there was not an excessive use of force in this situation, the review and the officer himself acknowledged that he could have used better de-escalation techniques during the traffic stop. The officer in this case has and will continue to receive advanced training in these areas,” Newton stated.

Myles said he was “greatly disheartened” by Newton’s statement and questioned what ISUPD defines as excessive use of force.

“To see that there was no excessive use of force—even though I have a fully torn labrum; [I] still have back problems and neck issues—I don’t know what a use of force is when somebody is required to get surgery or they’re required to alter their life, all because of an incident that happened because somebody forced me to the ground,” Myles said.

Myles added that it did not “shock” him that there was no wrongdoing found because the police investigated themselves.

“If there’s not a problem with them doing that, then where do the problems lie?” Myles said. “Does it take for one of us to get shot and killed for that to be excessive use of force? Does it take for one of us to be extremely wounded?”

According to Contreras’ LinkedIn, he has never worked for another police department and has been with ISUPD since June 2021. He previously worked in four security jobs and did so for nearly two years at a Las Vegas hotel and casino before beginning with ISUPD.

Pulling Myles over

On Aug. 12, Contreras was heading north on Welch Avenue when he turned around in front of Cy’s Roost and turned onto Chamberlain Street going eastbound. The ISUPD vehicle was about 500 feet from Myles’ vehicle when he turned into the parking lot as Contreras followed without his lights on.

Contreras later told another ISUPD officer that he pulled Myles over because of a dark window tint and that he saw him at the intersection of Welch Avenue and Chamberlain Street.

However, once in the lot, Contreras activated his lights and pulled his vehicle behind Myles’. Then Myles and Contreras exited their vehicles, but the body camera did not show Contreras approaching Myles, so it is unclear how much was said while it was not recording.

Body camera begins recording

Once the body camera recording began, Myles’ driver-side door was opened with Myles standing next to it and Contreras told Myles to get back in his vehicle and sit down, which Myles did. He was also asked to roll down his window, which he did not do because he said he did not have to.

Within eight seconds of the body camera recording beginning, Myles told Contreras to get his supervisor because he felt uncomfortable. Immediately after, Contreras asked Myles to stand up.

Myles, who was sitting in the driver’s seat but facing the officer, leaned backward over the console, and told Contreras not to touch him as Contreras repeatedly asked him to stand up.

“If you don’t fucking stand—all right, bro,” Contreras told Myles, who then exited the vehicle and put his hands up. “If you don’t stand up, I’m going to fucking tase you.”

Then Contreras grabbed Myles, and at some point, his body camera fell to the ground. The dash camera, however, showed Contreras picking Myles up by the waist and then attempting to throw him to the ground before tackling him.

After he is on the ground, Myles is heard repeatedly asking for help and for Contreras to stop while screaming in pain, but it is unclear exactly what Contreras did because it is out of view of both the dash and body camera.

“I haven’t done nothing wrong, bro. Stop, what are you doing? I can’t [move my arm back]; you’re fucking twisting my arm and you have your knee in my spine,” Myles said on the ground with Contreras on him.

Contreras got off of Myles after almost a minute but said twice, “I’m going to fucking tase you,” before doing so. Myles also asked again for a sergeant to be at the scene.

Contreras then told Myles, who remained on the ground, to put “both hands behind your fucking back.” When Myles said Contreras had his knee in his spine, Contreras responded with, “Shut the fuck up and put your hands behind your goddamn back.”

After placing cuffs on Myles, Contreras put his body camera back on and another unknown person in a police uniform arrived and said they were an Ames Police Department lieutenant, who appears to be Mike Arkovich. Myles told him to look at what Contreras had done to his face and to watch Contreras’ body camera.

Myles told the Daily a total of nine officers arrived at the Campustown parking lot where he was stopped.

Contreras emptied Myles’ pockets while he was still on the ground, then picked him up and put him in the back of his vehicle.

“Can you help me? Look at my wrist, bro. I can’t feel my fucking wrist,” Myles said as he was put into the back of the ISUPD vehicle.

Conversations with other officers

Contreras recounted multiple times with different officers his account of what happened and in one recount said Myles was “bitching, bitching, bitching.”

“So I pull up; he’s getting out of his car. I’m telling him to sit back down. He’s trying to fight me, and I’m like dude—he just—ridiculous,” Contreras told another officer.

When asked by another officer, Contreras said that he was “good” and that he only suffered a “little cut” on his finger.

Contreras also recounted to another officer that he searched Myles’ vehicle and found a “shit ton of shake” in the sunglasses holder and then told another officer, “I mean, did you see how much cash he had on him.”

From the dashcam, Myles can be heard asking an officer, “This is how you build rapport with your citizens?” The officer responds, “Most of the time, we don’t have a tussle.”

“You clearly searched my car. There’s nothing in there. I don’t smoke. I go to school at Iowa State for criminal justice. So I am being hurt and assaulted for what, sir?” Myles said to another officer who walked over to talk to Myles.

Alleged Mortensen Road Kum & Go theft despite alibi

In November, Myles was currently charged with fifth-degree theft and interference with official acts and is scheduled for a trial in March for the theft of a $34 bottle of alcohol at the Kum & Go on Mortensen Road.

The police report shows the theft occurred on Nov. 11 at “approximately” 1:51 a.m. and that the suspect was engaged in a foot pursuit by an Ames Police officer upon arrival at 1:57 a.m.

The Daily obtained a Snapchat video that shows Myles 2.5 miles away, near the intersection of Chamberlain Street and Stanton Avenue with friends at 1:56 a.m., one minute before the suspect was chased by police.

“Officers then initiated a foot pursuit. However, officers lost sight of the subject. Upon talking with other officers who are familiar with residents in the area, I was able to identify the male subject as Dariq Myles via driver’s license photo,” Ames Police Officer Brenda Dao stated in the conclusion of her report about the early morning Nov. 11 response to Kum & Go.

In an interview with the Daily, Ames Police Sgt. and Public Information Officer Amber Christian said officers do not comment on cases that are pending trial and was unable to confirm whether Dao spoke with Ames officers or ISUPD officers to identify Myles.

Myles said Ames Police alleging the Kum & Go theft was him is “all purely from Aug. 12” and suggested Contreras may have been the officer to suggest he committed the theft.

Over 1,200 signatures calling for the firing of Contreras

A Change.org petition was started by Kyle Kloppe, a senior in business analytics, after he saw the footage posted to the Iowa State University public group on Snapchat.

“I have tinted windows in my car, so it kind of spoke to me in a way where, you know, of all the altercations I’ve had over my tinted windows, it’s never been that escalated,” Kloppe said.

The petition, which was posted Wednesday, calls on “the relevant authorities” to remove Contreras from duty and conduct an impartial investigation with 1,287 signatures. It also calls for stricter regulations and training protocols that “emphasize de-escalation techniques rather than resorting to violence.”

Kloppe said he hopes 10% of enrolled students sign the petition, which is about 3,000 people.