Transcript for Ex-officer charged in assault of alleged jaywalker
may be disturbing. A late summer night in ashville, North Carolina what starts as an argument Jay walking, gentlemen, Jay walking, the lives of these three men about to change forever. Put your hands on your back. Don’t, don’t. Stop. Drop the bag. Former officer wearing a body camera seen running after an unarmed black man hearing him promise to beat him good. You’re going to get Up hard core. Hickman seen pushing rush’s face into the asphalt during the incident last August while another white offensiver is watching. I can’t breathe man. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. As rush is telling them he can’t breathe, Hickman is seen shooting rush with his taser. Oh! Oh! Lie down. Lie down. I can’t. I can’t! I can’t! When the police supervisor arrives former officer tells his side. Tried to drag the taser and I went off. Ploo police said after she heard the story failed to compare it with the kbody camera which is standard procedure. The supervisor dropped the ball as response to that. The most egregious 35part of this video is the fact of a Jay walking citation this person was beat, tazed and verbally disrespected by a police officer sworn to protect people. Today in court Chris Hickman got to feel what it’s like on the other end of the law, mug shot included after resigning in January facing strangulation and two felonies assault inflicting serious issues and communicating threats. Why it took six months to file charges has caused outrage. When they failed to acknowledge something bad has happened only makes us trust them less and make crime increase across the board. This is not about police Brouillette it’s about a system brutalizing our community. Councilmember answered tough questions few nights ago. Fw fwla. The whole thing is bad when I watched it had same reaction as probably you watched it. It’s just a terrible egregious case, it’s just a bad thing from start to finish. She’s even offered to resign if it would help adding the video only became public after it was leaked to the press. After watching the video behind closed door the district attorney moved to drop charges against rush but not until five months after the incident that criminal investigation fighted against Hickman. The police chief should have first viewed the tape and took immediate action. The witness officer who hasn’t been held accountable needs to be public statement what will happen to the officer who witnessed this and kept their mouth shut this blue line of silence needs to be broken in our department. Now more accusations coming forward another resident filed complaint after an incident with her 15-year-old grandson. I heard him using pro feign language and said he needs sensit iivit problem. Sounded racist. I do think that at least the majority of them involved African-American citizens but can’t say they were racially motivated. For many this feels like so many others between white officers and black civilians they are assigned to serve and protect. Growing outrage deadly police shooting of two black men. In the summer 2014 Erik garner was killed after being placed in a choke hold by new York officers. I’m minding my business officer. Please just leave me alone. And his haunting final words. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe, I N cat breathe. Repeated in ashville. The New York officer was never indicted by a grand jury though still faces federal civil rights charges. A month later 18-year-old Michael Brown killed in Ferguson by officer Wilson and grand jury refused to indict and family septemberled with the city for $1.5 million. 2015 in Baltimore 25-year-old Freddie gray was killed while riding around unsecure in the back of a police van after a jury trial those six officers never held responsible. Those deaths along with so many others set off protests across the country raising a national conversation on policing in a system that seems to treat people of color differently. Well, historically the police seem institution arose out of slave catchers. For this lieutenant of the San Francisco police department the problem in the police force runs deep. So that in and of itself is the foundation of the Bies, and the institutional biases that exist within the police department is just a kamikaze. Even though she’s a 30 plus veteran of the police dpors she understands the mistrust that widely exists in her own community. When you’re not in uniform and see blue lights and get pulled over. My heart stops and I all of a sudden find myself in a situation wondering what did I do, okay, keep my hands at the steering wheel, don’t move, something wrong. Majorly wrong. As an ofszer she’s been working to change things on the inside and says lives lost leading to great change. Their lives have not been in vain because what’s happened in those incidents have changed many policies, procedures and law enforcement and made us far more accountable in our actions and you are seeing it in policy changes and procedural changes. Can’t even use the carotid constraint it’s off the books completely. Many of the officers who killed them weren’t convicted and went free, in this case, the disturbing video has led to officer Hickman being arrested. It is a sign of progress they’re starting to be charged but the problem is that’s not the justice. Justice is not prosecuting police officers for killing us. It’s a world police officers see us as worthy of living in the first place. It’s a video that shed light on the truth but even pictures clear as day don’t always mean justice wins. From Atlanta “Nightline..”
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
