ASHEVILLE, N.C.-- A former Asheville police officer has been charged after body camera video appeared to showed him beating a black man accused of jaywalking.
Christopher William Hickman has been charged with assault by strangulation, assault inflicting serious injury, and communicating threats, according to the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office.
Hickman was taken into custody Thursday evening, according to Asheville police.
In the body camera footage which was leaked to the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper, Hickman can be seen beating and tasing 33-year-old Johnnie Rush after he was stopped for jaywalking on August 24, 2017.
On Monday, the city of Asheville filed a petition with the court to release the body camera footage to the public. The city also voted in a specially called meeting to release the personnel file of Hickman.
That personnel file revealed that Hickman was removed from patrol the day after the incident and that he resigned from the department on Jan. 5.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations confirmed on Wednesday that they are working a joint investigation with the FBI into the use of force incident.
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