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The incident began Monday when Stamford Police were called to the Rogers International School about a man acting irrationally outside of the school, prompting a lockdown of the school, police said.
When police arrived on scene they found an 18-year-old man who was clutching something and trying to hide it from officers. The man refused to let go of what he was holding before dropping to the ground with the object under his body, said Assistant Police Chief Jim Matheny.
Not knowing what the object was, a couple of officers got on his back and pulled his arms back, discovering a cardboard cutout of a small sword with words written on it, he said.
"At no time was the man injured by our officers," the assistant chief said. He added that the officers acted appropriately at all times.
Officers took the man to Stamford Hospital for treatment, which is standard procedure when someone is having emotional problems.
But the picture of the cut face and neck brace on Twitter with police brutality allegations brought questions which were quickly explained by the man himself and hospital staff, Matheny said.
"He told a newspaper that he fell in the emergency room and hit his head, and hospital staff confirmed the story, saying they provided the neck brace after the fall," he said.
Matheny said they talked with numerous witnesses and hospital officials to confirm the story and all agree that police did nothing wrong, he said.
The Twitter post has since been taken down.
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