Greensboro, NC — Back on June 17th, Dejuan Yourse was waiting at his mother’s house for her to arrive and let him in when police were called to the scene of a possible break in. Dejuan calmly explained to the two police officers that it was his mother’s house, and that he visits her house everyday. He even showed them his drivers license which lists the address as his residence.
But once Officer Travis Cole did not believe him. On video, he is seen telling Dejuan to sit down. Then he snatches Dejuan’s cell phone from his hand, and starts to violently arrest him while tackling him to the ground.
In the video, Dejuan shows no signs of aggression and is clearly unarmed. While being attacked by the officer, he can be heard repeatedly asking the officer why he’s punching him. And Officer Cole can be heard yelling, “I’m going to hit you again.” Dejuan yells back, “Why?” Dejuan was later charged with resisting arrest and assault on government officials.
But after the video was released, everything changed. Local civil rights leaders were angered, and so was the city of Greensboro. A few weeks later, the Greensboro City Council voted unanimously to strip Officer Cole of his law enforcement credentials.
“There was nothing in that video that prompted Officer Cole to go from zero to a thousand in less than a second,” Councilwoman Sharon Hightower told Greensboro.com. “Certainly police have the right to use force. I think that Officer Cole crossed the line.”
Nancy B. Vaughan, the mayor of Greensboro, called the arrest “ugly,” “brutal” and “completely unnecessary.” She reportedly personally apologized to Dejuan on behalf of the city council.
The charges against Dejuan have since been dropped, but the officer who attacked him has not been charged with a crime.
Watch the video below: