Former Asheville police officer Chris Hickman will not face federal charges for his role in the beating of an unarmed black man last August, the office of U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Andrew Murray announced Friday. Hickman is already facing three criminal charges for the beating of Johnnie Jermaine Rush, who was stopped by police last August on Short Coxe Avenue on Asheville's South Slope for suspected jaywalking. Those charges include a felony count of assault by strangulation, a misdemeanor counts of assault inflicting serious injury and communicating threats. Hickman is white and Rush is black.
The FBI and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as Murray's office, investigated whether Hickman violated Rush's civil rights when he choked, slammed, and shocked Rush with a stun gun. "After careful examination, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has determined that the evidence does not give rise to a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights laws”, Murray said in a statement put out Friday afternoon.
Footage from a police body camera showing the incident became public six months after it occurred when it was leaked to the Asheville Citizen-Times, which then published it. The response to the video shook Asheville and city government, leading to firing of then-city manager Gary Jackson and a major reshuffling of managerial reporting structures. City council also passed a series of controversial measures regarding police powers and transparency. Council also sued successfully to have all officer body camera footage of the incident released to the public, as body camera footage is not public record in North Carolina.
