Phillip Perez was legally spray painting a graffiti workshop recently, and before he knew it - things went south, way south. After being approached by officers from the Houston Police Department (HPD), he was questioned for mere seconds in regards to his activities before there was an onslaught of what is now considered to be some seriously out of line behavior on the law’s part.

Before Perez was able to announce his credentials and legality, HPD roughed him up, tore off his shirt, and slammed him into a squad car, literally. There is however one thing that these officers were completely unaware of at the time, and something Phillip knew could help him bring justice to this wrongdoing. All of the aforementioned was caught on videotape.

The young Houston graffiti artist had set up a video recorded to capture his artistic contributions that day, not knowing it would eventually serve as a means to help him in a case of completely uncalled for police brutality.

Perez has contributed art to the Wortham Art Center and is a member of HPD’s anti-gang taskforce, which actively helps to educate youth on staying out of trouble (particularly with graffiti). Just imagine how Perez feels right now: the same group he works with to support, are the ones who turned on him, violently.

It will be interesting to see if the young artist can bring justice to the forefront of this ongoing incident with his video footage of what is sure to be another HPD scandal in the news for weeks to come.