ATLANTA (TND) — Atlanta police released body camera footage of a traffic stop in August that led to the death of a 62-year-old church deacon that showed the man being shocked multiple times by the officer’s Taser after repeatedly saying he could not breathe.
The footage was released Wednesday at the request of the family of the victim, Johnny Hollman Sr., who became unresponsive during his arrest on the night of Aug. 10. An autopsy determined his death was a homicide, with heart disease as a contributing factor, which has led his family to call for prosecutors to charge Officer Kiran Kimbrough with murder.
“We’re asking for the officer to be jailed and prosecuted to the fullest extent because what he did to our father was senseless,” Arnitra Hollman, the daughter of Johnny Hollman, said during a press conference after the video was released.
Kimbrough’s attorney has said he acted lawfully in the incident, though he was fired last month for failing to follow department policy on having a supervisor on the scene before trying to arrest Hollman.
The video shows an argument between Hollman and Kimbrough after Hollman refused to sign a traffic ticket that said he was at fault for the traffic accident that the officer was responding to.
The hour and six-minute-long video showed an argument ensuing between Hollman and now-former Atlanta Police Officer Kiran Kimbrough after Hollman refused to sign a traffic ticket saying he was at fault for the traffic accident Kimbrough was responding to. In the video, Hollman kept telling the officer he’d done “nothing wrong,” while Kimbrough told Hollman that he had to sign the ticket or “I’m gonna take you to jail.”
The struggle began after Kimbrough stepped closer to Hollman, where the video shows him agreeing to sign the ticket. The body camera got blocked at the beginning of the struggle, but the officer can be heard asking for Hollman’s right arm. Hollman refused, saying his right arm hurts and was on the ground seconds later asking the officer why he was doing this.
“I’m an old man. I’m an old man,” Hollman says in the video.
Kimbrough can be heard yelling at him to sign the ticket and saying he is going to use his Taser.
“Put your hands behind your back now. Put your arms behind your back,” Kimbrough shouts before engaging his Taser in what police have described as a “warning arc.”
The footage shows Hollman become unresponsive after the Taser was engaged, with Kimbrough checking his neck for a pulse minutes later. In the aftermath of the struggle, another first responder who arrived at the scene helps the officer handcuff Hollman, who stopped fighting and is lying face down.
When other officers arrive a couple of minutes later, Kimbrough explains Hollman protested when instructed to sign a ticket, resisted when told to put his hands behind his back and looked like he was going to hit the officer. Kimbrough said he punched Hollman a couple of times, stunned him and put him in handcuffs.
“I don’t know what’s going on with him now,” Kimbrough says. “He’s still breathing, though.”
Wednesday’s release of the video comes after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has completed its investigation into the incident and handed over the findings to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who will ultimately decide whether to seek charges.
Source : Local 12