Release The Video! Stop Police Terror!

This post was shared via CopBlock.org’s submit page by Tawana Sampson.

Date of Interaction: March 10, 2012

Woman Brutalized in Guilford County Jail
RELEASE THE VIDEO – STOP POLICE TERROR

On March 10, 2012, Tawana Sampson was at home when a Greensboro police officer approached her to question her about her involvement in hit and run, an accusation she denied, and which was later dropped with no evidence. After being arrested, she was taken to the Guilford County jail on Sycamore St. While riding in the elevator with a Guilford County deputy, she was brutally attacked by a deputy, who slammed her head into the wall, choked her with his hands, and pulled handfuls of her hair out. She suffered a serious brain injury and had to receive medical treatment.

As is nearly always the case, an internal investigation by the sheriff’s department in response to a complaint filed by Sampson found her savage beating by the deputies as justified. Sampson suffers from the after-effects of her injuries to this day.

In the process of filing her complaint, Sampson discovered that the entire incident in the jail had been captured on video. However, despite repeated requests, the sheriff’s department refuses to release the video.

It is intolerable that law enforcement can refuse to release evidence such as this to people who have been brutalized, while using the same type of video evidence in whatever form they please to punish people when it suits them. Nor is this an isolated incident: Greensboro police have video evidence of their shooting and killing of a woman named Chieu Di Vo at her home on Hewitt St., and refuse to release it to the family. Police in Charlotte killed the unarmed Jonathan Ferrell, who was seeking help after a traffic accident, shooting him ten times, and have refused to publicly release the video of the killing. There are other cases around the country where video evidence has played a crucial role:

• Marcus Jeter, Bloomfield, New Jersey: during a traffic stop he was assaulted by police, and accused of going for the officer’s gun. Video evidence proved this to be false, that the police had rammed his car and violently attacked him

• Eric Garner, Staten Island, NYC: Choked to death by NYPD while a bystander recorded incident with a camera phone

Whether or not it is captured on video, police brutality is a nationwide epidemic. However, it always takes a struggle and a community coming together shoulder-to-shoulder with the victims to get justice. We call on all people of conscience to stand behind Tawana Sampson’s just demand that the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department release the video of her beating at the hands of deputies.

Join us in raising the demand: Release the video! Stop police terror!

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Tawana Sampson

Release The Video! Stop Police Terror! is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights