Body camera footage released Monday shows the violent arrest of Johnnie Rush and its aftermath, Vice News reported Tuesday. Rush was tased, beaten, and placed into a chokehold by Asheville, North Carolina, police for jaywalking in August 2017.
The new footage shows the entire altercation, with officer Christopher Hickman beating Rush and then complaining “I have blood all over me.” Hickman, who resigned from the police department, faces felony and misdemeanor assault charges, plus a federal civil rights investigation, following the incident.
Warning: The following video contains violent content and explicit language.
Rush can be heard saying “I can’t breathe” while in the chokehold, echoing the Black Lives Matter rallying cry and words of Eric Garner, who was killed by New York police in 2014.
Police stopped Rush, who had just gotten off work at Cracker Barrel, for jaywalking. Hickman tased and then beat Rush for attempting to run, and then led him to the patrol car.
“Don’t look at me with your spitty bloody face,” Hickman says to Rush.
Later, as he’s recounting the arrest to another officer, Hickman says, “I beat the shit out of his head. Not gonna lie about that.”
Supervising Sergeant Lisa Taube, who received “disciplinary action and mandatory retraining” following the incident, asks Hickman if the taser was effective.
“No,” Hickman says. “I hit him in the face as if it was a club three times, and that was effective. That’s what happened to his left side. I punched him in the face as hard as I could. FYI that’s why his eye looks like that.”
The City of Asheville condemned the actions of police officers in the video and said Hickman “used dangerous and excessive force” in arresting Rush.
“What happened in these recordings is unacceptable and does not meet the standards of the Asheville Police Department, the values of the City of Asheville, or the expectations of Asheville residents,” the city said in a statement.
H/T Vice News