UT professor arrested on video possibly under influence of synthetic marijuana

We now know the officer's reasons behind the arrest of a UT professor captured on camera earlier this week. We first showed you the video on Wednesday.  The officer says the professor appeared to be on synthetic marijuana.

On Tuesday morning Victoria Watson watched as an Austin police officer tasered and arrested a man, identified as UT Associate Professor Nedialko Dimitrov, at a Hyde Park bus station.

Watson spoke with FOX 7 about the incident the next day.

"From my side of it, I didn't see the person doing anything aggressive or violent so I was just really concerned,” said Watson.

Watson began recording when the officer first approached. At that time the professor appears to be dancing with the officer looking on. She says she was aware that a woman called to report the professor because she felt threatened by his behavior.

"She had had an interaction with the person at the bus stop and he was saying things that were inappropriate and was also giving people the middle finger,” said Watson.

Arrest paperwork gives more details. The responding officer says he could see the man's mouth foaming white and his face "wildly twitching."  The actions he felt were "consistent with behavior exhibited by someone overdosing on the current batch of synthetic marijuana in Austin."

The officer goes onto say that Dimitrov walked out into traffic in attempt to get away from him to board a bus.
               
At that point the officer is seen making physical contact. He claims Dimitrov squared up as if he was preparing to fight so out of fear he deployed his taser.

You can hear Dimitrov repeatedly asking if he was under arrest in Watson's video.

Police say Dimitrov was taken to a hospital, but refused treatment. He was then booked into jail for evading detention, resisting arrest and public intoxication.

While Watson felt the officer's actions were inappropriate, Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday saw it a different way.

"I've talked to the officers. I've seen the video. I thought the officers did a fantastic job. They tried. You can see them being patient,” said Casaday. "We have incidents daily with people downtown with people resisting police or fighting police on K2. It's been a big problem in the past year."

He cautions people like Watson not to rush to judgement when witnessing police activity.

"Get up and try to help instead of stirring the pot,” said Casaday.
               
APD says it plans to review the video to see if there were any policy violations.
               
FOX 7 made multiple attempts to contact the professor and the university.

He still appears to be employed judging by his page on the university's website.