Ex-Asheville officer pleads guilty to

beating pedestrian on video

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By Jonathan Drew / Associated Press

Posted Aug 9, 2019 at 3:33 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A white former Asheville police officer pleaded guilty Friday to
beating a black pedestrian in a case that sparked outrage after graphic video of the violent
2017 encounter surfaced.

Christopher Hickman, the ex-Asheville officer, was sentenced to a year of supervised

probation after admitting in court to assault by strangulation, assault inflicting serious
injury and communicating threats.

Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams said in a news release that the plea deal
was brokered after Hickman met with pedestrian Johnnie Rush through a mediated process
called restorative justice.

Body camera footage of the August 2017 beating showed Hickman hitting Rush and
putting him in a chokehold after officers accused Rush of jaywalking. Footage became
public when the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper published a leaked clip months after
the beating, prompting angry questions from the community about transparency and use of
force.
Williams said he engaged in the process that led to the plea deal, overseen by a legal
scholar on mediation, after talking to Rush and asking him “what justice could look like for
him in this case.” Williams said it gave Rush an opportunity to sit down with Hickman and
have his questions answered.

“Mr. Hickman answered questions at length, took responsibility, and offered an apology,”
the prosecutor said, adding that Rush said he was “more at peace” after meeting with
Hickman.

Williams said that if Hickman complies with probation and doesn’t break the law for the
year, his conviction will be wiped away.

An attorney for Rush didn’t immediately respond to an email asking if he or his client had
further comment.

Hickman’s attorney Thomas Amburgey issued a statement after the plea hearing saying the
process allowed his client and Rush “to sit across the table from one another not as
adversaries, but as individuals. Both men were open, honest and candid with each other.”

Body camera video shows Hickman subduing Rush, putting him in a chokehold and
shocking him with a stun gun after officers accused him of crossing outside a crosswalk at
night near a minor league ballpark and breweries popular with tourists. Hickman resigned
after an internal investigation of the arrest.

It took several months after the violent encounter for the video to become public through
the leak to the newspaper. Public reaction included angry comments at a community
meeting with police officials. Even the City Council expressed anger it wasn’t informed of
the case for months.

The city eventually released more footage after getting court approval, which is generally
required by North Carolina law on police video.

Last year, Asheville reached a $650,000 settlement with Rush over his treatment. The city’s
police chief at the time of the beating also resigned .

A law enforcement consulting firm that performed an external review urged more thorough
police department reviews of body camera footage to catch officers’ potentially
problematic behavior before it escalates.

Follow Drew at www.twitter.com/JonathanLDrew