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VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 15
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
New police beating video clearly
shows chokehold, aftermath
By Jeffrey Collins and
Jonathan Drew
RALEIGH (AP) - A white
North Carolina officer is shown
putting a black pedestrian in
a chokehold in video released
April 2 that offers more foot
age of a police beating that has
sparked outrage over use of
force.
City officials in Asheville,
North Carolina, released nine
body camera videos of the Au
gust 2017 encounter - most of
it made public for the first time
- from multiple officers. Earlier
this year, a shorter clip obtained
by a newspaper sparked anger in
the community and helped lead
to assault charges against former
officer Christopher Hickman.
The new videos show for
the first time the aftermath of
the encounter, and Hickman ac
knowledges multiple times to
Johnnie Jermaine Rush and to
his supervisor that he struck the
pedestrian.
When Hickman’s supervisor
asks if the Taser was effective,
Hickman said: “I hit him in the
face with it. I hit him in the face
as if it was a club. That was ef
fective.”
The footage stretches into a
20-minute clip of conversation
after Rush is released from the
hospital and is heading to jail,
and the two men have an almost
oddly calm conversation.
“I didn’t probably start chok
ing you until I punched you 10
Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye
NCCU to Celebrate Installation
of Chancellor Johnson O.
Akinleye
North Carolina Central University (NCCU) will install
Johnson 0. Akinleye, Ph.D., as its 12 th chancellor at 10
a.m., Thursday, April 19, in McDougald-McLendon
Arena, 700 E. Lawson St. Durham, N.C.
During the Installation ceremony, Akinleye will take
the Oath of Office and receive the University Medallion.
UNC System President Margaret Spellings will preside
over the Installation. Following Akinleye’s address, a
reception will take place at Brant Street Plaza.
Three additional events, through April 19, lead up to
the Installation ofNCCU’s 12th chancellor. The following
activities are free and open to the.public:
• At 9 a.m., Wednesday, April 18, Akinleye
will open the university’s International Symposium
with a TED Talk, also in B.N. Duke Auditorium. The
International Symposium will feature international
thought leaders and cover topics that include grassroots
peacebuilding, education, entrepreneurship, leadership,
global engagement, economic development and
international collaboration, among others. The keynote
speaker will be His Royal Majesty Drolor Bosso Adamtey
I, SUAPOLOR of the Se (Shai) Traditional Area, Ghana,
West Africa, Chancellor, University of Professional
Studies Accra, Ghana, Chancellor, Caribbean Maritime
University, Kingston Jamaica. Online registration can be
completed here.
Akinleye served as acting chancellor from August
2016 to January 2017. Previously, he served as provost
and vice chancellor for academic affairs for the university,
where his responsibilities included faculty development,
academic planning and assessment, enrollment
management, and academic oversight of NCCU’s seven
schools and colleges.
Since joining NCCU, Akinleye has worked to expand
the university’s academic partnerships, including new
agreements with community colleges, as well as to
introduce a robust online, distance-education program,
NCCU Online. In addition, he created K-12 initiatives
arid implemented a security strategy to increase safety for
campus constituents.
For more information on the chancellor’s Installation,
please visit www.nccu.edu/installation. Individuals are
to register for the Installation ceremony.
times,” Hickman says to Rush.
Another of the new clips
from an officer arriving as back-
up appears to show Hickman
using both arms to restrain Rush
by his neck. Police have previ
ously said Hickman put Rush in
a chokehold, but it was difficult
to see that on Hickman’s own
body-worn camera that leaked
to the newspaper.
Ajudge ruled a week ago that
the new videos could be made
public. North Carolina law gen
erally prevents the release of
body camera footage without
court approval.
Hickman is shown on the vid
eos subduing Rush, then punch
ing and shocking him with a
stun gun. Rush was stopped
because officers accused him
of crossing outside a crosswalk
near a minor league ballpark
and cluster of breweries popular
with tourists.
In one of the new clips, Rush
argues that a supervisor who
arrived on the scene, Sgt. Lisa
Taube, appears to put more faith
in Hickman’s account than his.
“You weren’t even here to
know what happened,” Rush is
heard saying. “You’re just going
by what your officer told you.
There are two sides to every
story.”
Taube then responds: “There
are. And," thankfully, I’ve got
body-worn video camera to
watch afterward.”
Police have said Taube was
disciplined for her handling of
the case.
While the encounter hap
pened late last year, it took six
months for it to become public
through the leak to The Citizen-
Times.
Hickman, 31, was arrested in
March on a felony charge of as
sault by strangulation, plus mis
demeanor counts of assault and
communicating threats.
His lawyer, Thomas Ambur
gey, released a statement April 2
that Hickman showed no crimi
nal intent to harm Rush.
“It’s unfortunate that so
many individuals have rushed to
judge my client. I am confident
that when a fair and impartial
jury hears the whole story that
Mr. Hickman will be acquitted,”
Amburgey said in the statement.
In the clip at the hospital, the
two laugh and calmly discuss
what happened while standing
outside the hospital. Hickman
called Rush “super cool” as he
prepares to take him to jail.
“Once we get there, is there
any way y’all can have them
to let me go to the restroom so
I can clean myself up?” Rush
asks.
“Absolutely,” Hickman an
swered. “Soon as they get those
cuffs off, that will be the first
thing we do.”
The Aug. 25 encounter came
months after the city imple
mented the use-of-force policy
that included training on de-
escalating tense situations. The
policy was drafted in the after
math of a white officer killing
an armed black man after a high
speed chase.
An arrest warrant for Hick
man said Rush suffered head
abrasions and swelling and that
he lost consciousness when
Hickman pressed his arm on his
throat.
Community outrage spilled
over with angry comments at a
March community meeting with
the police chief, and even the
City Council expressed anger
that they weren’t informed of
the case for months.
Collins reported from Co
lumbia, South Carolina.
Ms. Bettylenah Njaramba
encouraged
NCCU Student Elected First African-American
Woman President of UNC System Association of
Student Governments
North Carolina Central university (NCCU) junior elementary education major
Bettylenah Njaramba was elected president of the University of North Carolina (UNC)
Association of Student Governments (ASG). She will be the first African-American
woman to hold this position for the organization.
The ASG is a student organization designated to represent the interests of students in
the deliberations of the UNC Board of Governors.
In this role for the 2018-2019 academic year, Nj aramba will serve as the chief executive
officer of the organization and act as the official representative and spokesperson. She
will also serve as an ex officio member of the UNC Board of Governors and the Council
of Student Body Presidents.
She also serves as president of NCCU’s Association of Students for a Better Africa
and is a member of the university’s student government association.
Njaramba credits her mentor, former senior class president Brianne Gill, for her
passion in student government. In 2015, Njaramba served as freshman class president.
Also during her freshman year, she served as a delegate for NCCU at ASG’s formal
meeting. She has served in this role for subsequent years in addition to serving as
speaker pro-temp for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Njaramba, a Raleigh, native by way of Kenya, tributes her African culture as a
significant influence on her life and success.
“My culture is very important to who I am as a student-leader,” said Njaramba. “In
order to be great servant leader you must be true to yourself.”
Immediately after graduation she plans to join the Peace Corps with aspirations to
pursue a doctoral degree to teach.
DeVos joins debate
on racial inequities
in school discipline
By Maria Danilova
WASHINGTON (AP) - Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on April 4 entered a heated national debate
on racial disparities in school discipline, meeting with educators as a government watchdog said in a
report that African-American students continue to be punished more often than their peers.
The study by the Government Accountability Office found that black children account for about 16
percent of students but 39 percent of students suspended from school. A 2016 federal study showed that
black students are more than three times more likely to be suspended from school and nearly twice as
likely to be expelled than their white peers.
A 2014 document issued by the Obama administration told schools to determine if penalties like
suspension and expulsion were disproportionately affecting black students. If they didn’t correct any
disparities, they could face federal investigations and possible loss of federal funding.
The document also urged educators to move away from harsh penalties in favor of positive behavior
interventions such as counseling.
DeVos met behind closed doors April 4 morning with educators who believe that rolling back the
Obama rule will further entrench discrimination. Later in the day she heard from opponents who say that
softening discipline practices makes schools less safe and prevents effective learning.
While there’s widespread agreement that disparities in discipline based on race and disability are a
serious problem, there’s intense debate over what causes them and how to fix them.
Tynisha Jointer, behavioral health specialist for elementary schools in Chicago, said the Obama-era
guidance was instrumental in fighting discrimination. She recalled a visit to a public school to help
counsel an unruly first-grader. Jointer observed the student, a black boy, acting out during a PE class.
But she also noticed that during the first 10 minutes of class, the teacher redirected that student six times,
while his white peers who also were misbehaving did not receive the same attention.
“Black students, especially black boys, are looked at as deviant and defiant while white students are
seen as exploring and testing boundaries,” Jointer said in an interview.
She said she told DeVos that “hands down, positive interventions work best.”
Olinka Crusoe, who teaches English as a second language in New York City, cited the example of a
first-grader at her school who would act out during writing time. She and other teachers spent several
months trying various approaches until they figured out that giving him a sheet of paper with bigger lines
and a bigger pencil solved the problem.