On Thursday, prosecutors charged an Oklahoma City police officer with felony assault after he hit a 71-year-old man so hard that he broke his neck during a fight over a traffic ticket.
In Oklahoma County, Sgt. Joseph Gibson, 28, was charged with one count of aggravated assault and abuse in connection with the fight on October 27. Body-worn camera footage released by police shows Gibson shoving Lich Vu to the ground after Vu touched Gibson during a fight after a car accident that didn’t hurt anyone.
“We look at the law and the facts in every case,” Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna said in a statement. “In this case, we found that the officer used physical force without a good reason.”
Prosecutors say Vu is still in the hospital with a brain bleed, a broken neck, and an eye socket.
KWTV, a CBS affiliate, reported that police also shared surveillance video from nearby that showed Vu’s head hitting the concrete during the takedown arrest.
Oklahoma City Police Capt. Valerie Littlejohn wouldn’t say anything about the charge, but she did point to a statement the department put out in October saying Gibson was put on administrative leave while his acts were being looked into.
The statement, which was also released in Vietnamese, said, “We want our community to know that this case is being looked into thoroughly, and the review process will take time to finish.”
People in Oklahoma City’s Vietnamese community were angry about the use of force, especially since the film shows Vu having trouble talking to Gibson and not seeming to understand what the officer was saying.
We can’t fix the pain, but this is the first step. It can’t make up for the pain. “A lot of what they’re going through can’t be replaced,” said Thuan Nguyen, who will be president-elect of the Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma. “The DA did the right thing in charging him.”
KWTV reported that Vu’s family said he was released from the hospital last week, but he’s still having trouble concentrating and getting headaches.
Vu hasn’t been able to continue his cancer treatment because of his injuries, Nguyen said. “He’s not in the state that he was in before the accident.”
Mark Nelson, President of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police, said that his group feels bad for Vu and knows how badly he was hurt, but he is worried about how the charges will affect police in the field.
“It is very disappointing to see a police officer face felony charges for actions taken in good faith while serving in the line of duty,” Nelson said in a post. “Sgt. Gibson followed his de-escalation training and protocol when assaulted.”
