Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan on Friday held a press conference to announce his findings of an investigation of a use of force incident involving officers from the City of Allentown during a domestic incident in June, ruling he believes officers were justified in their actions in taking a man into custody.

During the conference, the district attorney showed body camera footage of the incident, saying cellphone video previously released by a witness to some media outlets only showed a small portion of what transpired prior to the arrest of Michael Iucolino.

The incident happened on June 22 in the 200 block of North 16th Street in the city after a caller reported his sister was the victim during a dispute with her husband. Holihan said when police arrived at the apartment, officers heard a woman inside yelling, “Mike get off me! Get off me!”

He said officers took the appropriate action in entering the apartment to confront Iucolino because they believed the woman inside the apartment was being harmed.

Upon entering the apartment, Holihan said, officers found Iucolino holding a young child in his arms. Officers said Iucolino was instantly combative, striking or attempting to strike both officers. A violent physical altercation immediately resulted.

The district attorney said a compilation of body camera videos shows the event from the officers’ arrival on scene until Iucolino was secured in custody. The videos show Iucolino is struck with the baton and police used a taser while he restrained the leg of an officer in a leg lock after tripping him and knocking him to the ground.

The district attorney showed what he called a “more complete picture of what happened” during Iucolino’s apprehension, saying, “In order to ensure the community that the use of force was proper in this case, we are going to show some of the body camera footage from this arrest,” stressing the video released by a witness only shows a portion of the incident.

Holihan said the city’s Use of Force Review Board investigated the incident and determined the force used by officers was justified. He said, “As the district attorney, I have conducted an independent investigation and I concur with their findings. I have concluded there is no evidence to support filing criminal charges against the Allentown Police Officers involved in this incident.

“This office will continue to focus on community engagement and transparency and it is important to show these law enforcement officers were responding to a call for help and were trying to keep residents safe.”

Under Pennsylvania law, causing or attempting to cause bodily injury to a police officer is a felony, subject to warrantless arrest, the DA.