North Carolina police officer who assaulted jaywalker has been arrested and charged

(Image credit: iStock)

published 9 March 2018

A North Carolina police officer will face charges for assaulting a man accused of jaywalking, CNN reports.

The former officer, Christopher Hickman, caused outrage when body camera footage from August 2017 showed him using excessive force against Johnnie Jermaine Rush, who was stopped for allegedly jaywalking. Hickman chased Rush, tackled him to the ground, punched him repeatedly in the head, choked him, and shot him with a stun gun, footage shows.

The video was published by the Asheville-based Citizen-Times in February. In the footage, Rush can be heard calling for help and yelling about being unable to breathe. Rush complained to the police department the same day of the incident, and police Chief Tammy Hooper placed Hickman on administrative duty, telling him to turn in his badge and gun. After reviewing more body camera footage, Hooper moved to fire Hickman in January, but the officer instead resigned.

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Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.

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