Virginia Beach, Va. - An officer involved in a controversial viral video is no longer working for the Virginia Beach Police Department - but leaving was his choice according to police.
The video went viral in April and got a lot of attention.
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A 17-year-old was tased during an arrest after he refused to get out of the car in January.
Officer Chris Mackie, one of the officers involved in the arrest, just voluntarily resigned.
Police conducted an internal investigation into the use of force in April.
The union said Mackie received a 30-hour suspension punishment.
“We don’t believe he did anything wrong. We believe he was well within policy and well within law. We don’t think he should have gotten anything, but obviously the department saw otherwise. They gave him his 30 hours and we were prepared to grieve it but he resigned instead.” said Brian Luciano, VBPD Union President.
The union said they fought for Officer Mackie while he was being investigated and were disappointed to hear that he decided to leave.
“He was a good officer and we hate to see him go. We understand the reasons behind him going and we support him in his decision,” said Luciano.
The union said there were several cases like this one that caused morale in the department to suffer.
“These are issues that are going on around the country. You can look at any city in any state regardless of the size. Officers are tentative and they don’t know what they can do and that’s a first and this is uncharted territory. The officers are grappling with it just as much as the administration,” said Luciano.
He said they’re taking this situation and trying to learn from it.
Chief Cervera has told NewsChannel 3 he is working to improve communication between him and his officers about decisions that are made in the department.
The police department confirmed that Officer Mackie no longer works for the city but declined to talk about the punishment that was handed down calling it a "personnel matter."
