CENTRALIA — Centralia’s City Manager Dan Ramey is calling a story recently broadcast by a St. Louis TV news station “one-sided” and without facts that led to the arrest of a St. Louis man.

The story referred to the arrest of 24-year-old Montaya Ewing for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs.

Centralia police reportedly attempted a traffic stop on Ewing for driving on the wrong side of a one-way street. Ewing instead sped away, drove into a yard and struck an A/C unit and a tree.

He reportedly attempted to flee the area on foot, but officers tasered him three times, none of which they say were effective. Ewing was ultimately subdued when officers used pepper spray on him.

KSDK reportedly received a picture from a witness who claimed police used unnecessary force on Ewing, but police say when they ordered him to the ground he refused.

Ramey says the broadcast was “bad press” for the city, but so are the crimes being committed in Centralia that periodically are directly or indirectly linked to people from outside the community.

He says that after viewing many videos of what happened that were not shown on KSDK, he doesn’t believe excessive force was used.

Ramey says he will be requesting at Monday night’s city council meeting that the mayor and council approve the purchase of police body cameras and new car video. He says he believes that would be in the best interest of the department and the citizens and would show transparency in the workings of the department.