Oklahoma officer charged for slamming 71-year-old man onto ground in traffic stop
The Oklahoma City police officer who slammed a 71-year-old man onto the ground after a traffic stop has been charged with one count of aggravated assault and battery, the local district attorney announced Thursday.
The Oklahoma City police officer who slammed a 71-year-old man onto the ground after a traffic stop has been charged with one count of aggravated assault and battery, the local district attorney announced Thursday.
Body camera footage from the Oct. 27, 2024 incident showed Sgt. Joseph Gibson stop Lich Vu, 71, for an illegal U-turn after a minor incident.
In the footage, Vu denied making U-turn, said his car was hit by another person and the officer asked him to sign the citation. Vu eventually got out of the car and the two got into a verbal argument that escalated.
The body camera video shows an officer speaking to the driver while he sits in the driver’s seat with the door open.Oklahoma City Police Dept. / via FacebookSecurity video footage from a nearby business showed that Vu appeared to touch the officer’s arm and Gibson immediately grabbed Vu’s hand, pulled it behind his back and threw him onto the floor. The interaction happened within seconds and footage showed Vu hit the pavement headfirst. Vu was hospitalized with significant injuries including an orbital fracture, neck fracture and brain bleed.
District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna said in a statement that her office takes “all use-of-force incidents very seriously” and “in this particular case determined the Officer's actions were an unreasonable use-of-force.”
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