RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A white North Carolina officer is shown putting a black pedestrian in a chokehold in video released Monday that offers more footage of a police beating that has sparked outrage over use of force.
City officials in Asheville, North Carolina, released nine body camera videos of the August 2017 encounter — most of it made public for the first time — from multiple officers. Earlier this year, a shorter clip obtained by a newspaper sparked anger in the community and helped lead to assault charges against former officer Christopher Hickman.
The new videos show for the first time the aftermath of the encounter, and Hickman acknowledges multiple times to Johnnie Jermaine Rush and to his supervisor that he struck the pedestrian.
When Hickman’s supervisor asks if the Taser was effective, Hickman said: “I hit him in the face with it. I hit him in the face as if it was a club. That was effective.”
The footage stretches into a 20-minute clip of conversation after Rush is released from the hospital and is heading to jail, and the two men have an almost oddly calm conversation.
“I didn’t probably start choking you until I punched you 10 times,” Hickman says to Rush.
Another of the new clips from an officer arriving as backup appears to show Hickman using both arms to restrain Rush by his neck. Police have previously said Hickman put Rush in a chokehold, but it was difficult to see that on Hickman’s own body-worn camera that leaked to the newspaper.
A judge ruled a week ago that the new videos could be made public. North Carolina law generally prevents the release of body camera footage without court approval.
Hickman is shown on the videos subduing Rush, then punching and shocking him with a stun gun. Rush was stopped because officers accused him of crossing outside a crosswalk near a minor league ballpark and cluster of breweries popular with tourists.
In one of the new clips, Rush argues that a supervisor who arrived on the scene, Sgt. Lisa Taube, appears to put more faith in Hickman’s account than his.
“You weren’t even here to know what happened,” Rush is heard saying. “You’re just going by what your officer told you. There are two sides to every story.”
Taube then responds: “There are. And, thankfully, I’ve got body-worn video camera to watch afterward.”
Police have said Taube was disciplined for her handling of the case.
While the encounter happened late last year, it took six months for it to become public through the leak to The Citizen-Times.
Hickman, 31, was arrested in March on a felony charge of assault by strangulation, plus misdemeanor counts of assault and communicating threats.
His lawyer, Thomas Amburgey, released a statement Monday that Hickman showed no criminal intent to harm Rush.
“It’s unfortunate that so many individuals have rushed to judge my client. I am confident that when a fair and impartial jury hears the whole story that Mr. Hickman will be acquitted,” Amburgey said in the statement.
In the clip at the hospital, the two laugh and calmly discuss what happened while standing outside the hospital. Hickman called Rush “super cool” as he prepares to take him to jail.
“Once we get there, is there any way y’all can have them to let me go to the restroom so I can clean myself up?” Rush asks.
“Absolutely,” Hickman answered. “Soon as they get those cuffs off, that will be the first thing we do.”
The Aug. 25 encounter came months after the city implemented the use-of-force policy that included training on de-escalating tense situations. The policy was drafted in the aftermath of a white officer killing an armed black man after a high speed chase.
An arrest warrant for Hickman said Rush suffered head abrasions and swelling and that he lost consciousness when Hickman pressed his arm on his throat.
Community outrage spilled over with angry comments at a March community meeting with the police chief, and even the City Council expressed anger that they weren’t informed of the case for months.
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Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina.
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Follow Collins at www.twitter.com/JSCollinsAP and Drew at www.twitter.com/JonathanLDrew
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