From [HERE] Crossing the street in a manner deemed “illegal” by the state can and will get you beaten, shot, kidnapped, caged, and even killed if you are Black or Brown. Body Camera footage was released last month illustrating this dangerous reality. The video shows one white police officer restraining a man down while another white officer repeatedly punches him in the head after they confronted him for the “crime” of jaywalking. Last month, in an extremely rare move by the District Attorney, the cop who was recorded doing the beating has been criminally charged and arrested.

Now, this week, the department has released all the video from the attack which provides new insight into the nature of this most brutal encounter and illustrates why the officer was charged.

District Attorney Todd Williams announced early last month that former officer Chris Hickman, 31, is facing charges of felony assault by strangulation, and misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury and communicating threats, according to the Citizen-Times. 

Hickman then posted $10,000 bail and was released.

The department attempted to keep the video below from the public eye, however, the city of Asheville petitioned the courts to release all the footage related to the incident. On March 26th, a judge ruled that they were to be released, and this week, nine videos were published online.

As TFTP reported last month, Johnnie Jermaine Rush, 33, had just finished a 13-hour shift at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant and was leaving a store on his way home when he was approached by Verino Ruggiero, an officer in training. In the Body Cam footage published by the Citizen-Times, Ruggiero claimed he had warned Rush about jaywalking.

“All I’m trying to do is go home, man. I‘m tired. I just got off work,” Rush replied.

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