While George Floyd may not have died as a result of the officer’s brutality, we all saw the video cam footage – there was unnecessary brutality. Police officers have to learn that there is a need to only use necessary force.
Unfortunately, one officer in Atlanta didn’t seem to get that memo.
Officer Kiran Kimbrough is now being investigated over police procedures after he used a Taser repeatedly on a 62-year-old church deacon by the name of Johnny Hollman.
The bodycam footage has been released – and it’s clear that there was no need for a taser.
Hollman was driving home from Bible study when he was involved in a minor traffic accident. This should be simple enough – an exchange of information and everyone is on their way, right? Nope. Officer Kimbrough decided to complicate matters.
Kimbrough decided that Hollman was at fault and attempted to issue a citation. Hollman refused to sign it. That’s when the taser came out. Seems a bit odd, don’t you think?
Hollman was tased so many times that, at one point, he said he couldn’t breathe.
He became unresponsive and later died.
Kimbrough has already been fired over this incident, but the family is pressing charges and wants to see the officer charged with murder.
Most states don’t require a person to sign a citation if one is presented to them by an officer. Georgia, however, allows officers to arrest those who refuse to sign the documentation.
The question is, did the officer go too far?
Considering that it resulted in the deacon’s death, many would say yes.
This means that the Atlanta Police Department needs to take a close look at its procedures. Unsurprisingly, they’ve already made one important revision: officers can now write “refusal to sign” on the citation rather than making an arrest.
At the very least, this revision would have kept Hollman alive, and Kimbrough could have kept his taser out of the situation.
Now that the bodycam footage is finally out from this incident that took place back in August, we hope that it won’t result in any rioting in the streets. The last thing we need is a Floyd-level riot on our hands.
In the meantime, it seems that many police officers still need to learn what the difference is between necessary and unnecessary force.
