Police Upset Over Leaked Footage Of Assault On Jaywalker

The police in Asheville, N.C., have recently come under fire for their actions involved in the death of a man who was accused of jaywalking.

A video has been released of the incident, it's body-cam footage of the encounter, and it shows two police officers physically attacking a man, Johnnie Rush, who had been stopped for jaywalking.

The altercation took place back in August, when Rush was stopped by the police for walking through a parking lot of a business that was closed for the day.

In the video, Rush says that he's tired and is on his way home from work, he happened to be just getting off a dish-washing shift at Cracker Barrel, when the officers seemingly decided to harass him about his neglect to use the crosswalk in the middle of the night.

"Do what you got to do besides keep harassing me, man,” Rush can be heard saying in the video.

They told him to put his hands behind his back, but Rush disregarded their orders and took off. That's when things dramatically escalated.

The police are now upset, not about the actions of the officers it seems, so much as they are upset that the footage was leaked to the public. Now, they say that an investigation needs to take place to find out who is responsible for leaking that footage.

City officials are allegedly outraged over the beating, that they allegedly weren't aware of taking place until a report came out in the news; detailing the incident. They say that they are allegedly upset that the police didn't think it important to notify them of the situation beforehand.

According to police records, Rush had been charged with second-degree trespass, impeding traffic, resisting a public officer, and with an assault on a government official. Those charges were later dismissed by the Asheville DA.

Criminal Investigation ..

It's now reported that the FBI has opened an investigation into the matter. And the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has also been requested to assist their efforts in the investigation.

Police chief Tammy Hopper has said that if the community demands it that she will step down from her role and officially resign, if that will (in her words) "solve the problem".

Should people be choked, beaten, or tasered, because they are trying to walk down the street?

You might respond to that and say, "well, he wasn't attacked for simply walking," it was because he was perhaps resisting arrest. But whenever an ordinance such as an anti-jaywalking rule is made, what supporters of it are essentially saying is that they agree that people who don't conform to the rule should be choked, beaten, tasered, or even ultimately lose their life. Because that is what happens.

This is a victimless “crime” and seeing as there isn't an endless amount of police officers and their resources to go around, is it wise that they elect to bother themselves over such a trivial matter? This isn't the first time and it won't be the last, unfortunately.

As with many instances we've witnessed in the past, it's unlikely that those guilty of wrongdoing are going to see any reasonable penalty for their actions. However, multiple investigations have and continue to take place (administrative and criminal).

The City of Asheville has filed a petition, seeking additional camera footage from that same night.

One of the officers has already resigned, following an administrative investigation that found him guilty of using excessive force and engaging in rude and discourteous behavior.

A supervisor who also allegedly responded to the scene has been disciplined as well for their less than satisfactory performance when they failed to disclose all of the details of the matter and failing to review the camera footage.

Pics:
Pixabay
via metro - metro.co.uk/2018/03/08/video-shows-white-cop-bash-black-mans-head-off-sidewalk-jaywalking-7372479/
pixabay

Sources:
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/03/02/asheville-police-investigation-needed-into-who-leaked-officer-beating-video/388916002/
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/03/07/fbi-has-opened-official-investigation-into-asheville-police-beating/405455002/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/us/asheville-police-beating-black-man.html
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2018/03/06/sbi-consider-probe-asheville-police-beating/401331002/
http://nationalpost.com/news/world/outrage-over-footage-of-police-officer-beating-a-black-man-in-north-carolina-after-repeatedly-jaywalking
http://www.greensboro.com/news/north_carolina/fbi-opens-criminal-probe-of-police-beating-in-asheville/article_ac6e50fb-f0d2-56a1-8101-b572102cdcae.html