Exclusive: Witness To Physical Confrontation Involving Police Chief Speaks Out

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A witness is now speaking out about the allegation a teenager is making against Florida International University's Police Chief.

That teen is accusing the chief of choking him, and then trying to cover it up.

That witness spoke exclusively to CBS4's Natalia Zea.

Matthew Carrillo says FIU Police Chief Alex Casas confronted him along with his friend, Javier Palacios and another friend on the roof of a garage on campus telling them they were trespassing. It quickly escalated.

"He put his hand like this which sort of pushed me up, and had his hand like that around my neck," said Carrillo.

Palacios was sitting down on the other side of their friend who was standing between them. His recollection is slightly different from Carrillo's but he says he's clear the chief choked him.

"He came up to us with unnecessary force toward Matthew, and he pretty much just choked him around the neck....With that arm he had him pretty pushed up against the wall," said Palacios.

Chief Casas has turned down CBS4 News' repeated requests for an interview but said in the police report that he only placed his hand and forearm on the male's upper chest...after he says he became concerned for his safety as Matthew stood up, holding his skateboard behind his back.

Carrillo says his skateboard was behind him, but never in his hands.

CLICK HERE to watch Natalia Zea's report

Zea asked him if he threatened the Chief in any way.

"No, not verbally, not physically, nothing."

CBS4 News pressed the university to release all 17 camera angles from the roof to see exactly what happened.

What they released shows no clear video of the incident.

The only close-up angle, which shows the chief talking to the young men, then jumps forward two minutes and thirty seconds later when the chief and the teens part ways.

The other videos have much smaller jumps, or are simply too far away to see who is telling the truth.

Miguel Amador is representing the Carrillo family and calling for outside investigations into the incident.

"I find it to be a little bit coincidental, if you will, that there seem to be large gaps that are missing in the videos that were provided by FIU and the FIU police," he told Zea.

Carrillo says he wants life to get back to normal, but says he will not stay quiet about his version of the physical encounter with the chief.

"I think he is lying about what happened that day because he doesn't want to get in trouble for it."

CBS4 News has asked FIU since receiving these videos Tuesday afternoon to explain the jump in footage, and to confirm that none of the videos has been edited. A spokesperson says they are still working to find answers to those questions.

The school's senior vice president and CFO Kenneth Jessell did release a statement that says in part..."Chief Casas took action to ensure the safety of three young people, none of whom is an FIU students, who were skateboarding recklessly down parking garage ramps, as the police report indicates."

Jessell also indicated he has offered FIU's full cooperation if the State Attorney or Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.