A Facebook video showing Iowa City Police Department officer Alirio Arcenas hitting Iowa City man Jonathan Kim repeatedly while arresting him on Tuesday, March 18, has raised questions throughout the community regarding the appropriate use of force by a police officer.
According to the criminal complaint, Arcenas was attempting to serve Kim with an arrest warrant when Kim tried to evade arrest and began swinging repeatedly at the officer. Kim was eventually arrested for assault and interference with official acts.
The video taken by Maui Hill begins after Arcenas started hitting Kim, striking him in the torso and head repeatedly before eventually turning him on his stomach and handcuffing him.
During the video, a bystander is heard yelling, “So you punch him in the f*cking face?”
“He punched me first. That’s how it works. Punch the cops, get punched,” Arcenas said in response in the video.
The video raises questions about the use of force by police officers — when it is justified and what is considered “reasonable force.”
Ethan Rogers, associate director at the University of Iowa Center for Social Science Innovation and an adjunct assistant professor in the university’s Department of Sociology and Criminology, provided background information on how acceptable levels of force are determined.
“A lot of that is guided by legal precedent, state codes, and so forth,” Rogers said. “But there’s also considerable variability in terms of policing procedure and policy across local departments.”
Rogers said departments have their own guidebooks on the use of force by officers, and reading the specific regulations for local departments is the best way to know how they approach situations.
The ICPD policy manual’s Use of Force section lists a multitude of factors used to determine the reasonableness of force.
“Immediacy and severity of the threat to officers and others” and “the conduct of the individual being confronted, as reasonably perceived by the officer at the time” are two notable factors provided.
According to the criminal complaint, Kim struck the officer first, hitting him in the face. This is what resulted in Arcenas taking Kim to the ground and hitting him repeatedly, as shown in the video.
Arcenas also suffered multiple injuries from the altercation, according to the criminal complaint, including lacerations on his hand and lip.
Heather Erwin, an advocate for criminal justice reform specializing in education and working as the policy coordinator for the UI’s college in prison program Liberal Arts Beyond Bars, emphasized the importance of reform surrounding de-escalation and tactics that could have prevented the incident from happening in the first place.
She mentioned while Iowa City police officers do engage in de-escalation training, taking into consideration how much it is promoted and its effectiveness is a necessary step in the process.
Erwin noted two pillars of the situation — the encounter itself and the questions surrounding the system — which may allow violent encounters to happen.
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“What are the things that led up to this?” Erwin asked. “What about the way our system currently works is not working well?”
Erwin discussed how collateral consequences of involvement in the criminal legal system, such as arrest records or previous convictions, can exclude individuals from civic community participation. She said this can discourage a sense of community, something that prevents individuals from getting the support they need.
“Maybe we look at how do we address some of those collateral consequences and still help explain that that keeps everybody safe, right? Building community keeps everybody safe,” Erwin said. “Ostracizing people, a lot of what happens when people feel alone, when they feel unheard, that’s when you get people that lash out.”
Erwin serves on the board of Inside Out Reentry Community, an organization that works with previously incarcerated individuals and helps them become active members of society after release. She emphasized the need for community-based intervention and reform as a way to support individuals, as opposed to criminalizing them.
Lee Hermiston the public safety information officer for the Iowa City Police Department, provided a statement regarding the incident.
“The Iowa City Police Department is aware of the video circulating on social media and the circumstances surrounding it. The arresting officer, Alirio Arcenas, is a 16-year veteran of the Iowa City Police Department. The officer did seek medical treatment following the arrest and is recovering from his injuries. Mr. Kim was charged with Interference with Official Acts — Bodily Injury and an outstanding Failure to Appear warrant,” the statement read.
He added that, like in any use-of-force situation, the incident is under investigation by ICPD.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on April 10, 2025.