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Cases In Springs Traffic Stop Video Now In County Court After Racial Profiling Accusations

DENVER (AP) - Two black brothers have had their criminal cases emerging from a traffic stop transferred from city to county court, amid an internal police investigation into the conduct of the two white officers involved in an encounter featured in a Web video seen by thousands.

The cases against passenger Ryan Brown, who was ticketed for resisting and interference with a public official, and driver Benjamin Brown, cited on charges of compulsory insurance and obstruction of view, were transferred to avoid any possible conflict of interest, police spokeswoman Catherine Buckley told The Associated Press on Wednesday. She added she did not yet have an update on the investigation opened after Ryan Brown filed a complaint and shared with police his video soon after the March stop. The officers remain on active duty, Buckley said.

Ryan Brown's video emerged last month on YouTube at a time when several fatal, racially charged encounters involving police across the nation had led to a focus on ubiquitous cellphone cameras as ways to document possible abuse.

In the Brown video, an officer does not answer repeated questions about why the brothers were stopped. The video shows Benjamin Brown being patted down while in handcuffs and then an officer opening Ryan Brown's passenger door and pulling him from the vehicle with another officer's help. Benjamin Brown has said he watched from the police car as the officers wrestled his brother to the ground at gunpoint, fearing Ryan Brown would be shot.

Denver attorney Dan Recht, who is defending the brothers on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, called their stop "just another example of what's been going on for decades. But now it's being memorialized by cellphone video cameras."

But Mike Violette, executive director of Colorado's Fraternal Order of Police, said such footage can be edited. He added he could not comment on the Colorado Springs incident because he knew little of the events leading up to and following what the public has seen on the video. Colorado Springs police and the city's police union have not commented on the officers' conduct, citing the ongoing investigation.

Department spokeswoman Buckley said she could not say when the probe would be complete. Recht expressed frustration over the time it's taken already.

"It doesn't make sense given how striking the video is," Recht told the AP on Wednesday.

Ryan Brown has told the AP one of the officers took his cellphone away at one point, stopped the recording and threw the phone in the snow.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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