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The man seen being kneed in the stomach by police is speaking out now that the officer has been fired.
Robert Liese said the Orlando police officer should have been fired months ago.
He also said he still has problems holding down a job because he gets tired so easily as a result of his injuries.
Watch raw video: Handcuffed suspect kneed by OPD officer (Short version)
Watch raw video: Prisoner kneed by OPD officer (Full version)
On Wednesday, the officer in the video, Peter Delio, was fired from the department and so was his sergeant, Michael Faulkner.
Liese said Delio and Faulkner were cruel for ignoring his 35 pleas for medical help for an hour and a half before calling paramedics as he lay bleeding internally, his wrists and ankles bound.
Liese is now living in Alabama and trying to make a new start since his ordeal in the OPD holding cell.
He said Delio should have been fired immediately for rupturing his spleen, which had to be removed in emergency surgery.
He said the department should have also fired Faulkner right away, for not calling paramedics when Liese requested medical help and for apparently lying about it later.
“I could barely breathe,” Liese said. “The pain that I felt, I honestly thought I was going to die. It was that severe.”
It took eight months and a WFTV investigation to expose Faulkner's lie.
Faulkner told Internal Affairs Liese had refused treatment, but the video tells a different story.
“I need medical attention, please,” said Liese in the video.
“What do you need medical attention for?” said Faulkner.
WFTV's Kathi Belich asked Liese if he believed no one at OPD had watched the entire video until later.
“It’s really hard for me to believe that not one person watched that whole video,” Liese said. “That right there goes to prove the lack of control, and, you know, the lack of discipline.”
He said hearing the officers’ laughter in the background as he writhed in pain on the floor was terrifying.
“I was more mentally and emotionally hurt, because, you know, out of all the officers there, there was not one good one,” he said.
Liese is suing OPD.
Faulkner and Delio have the right to fight their terminations, but police officials said they don’t know if the men will.
