FBI opens criminal probe of police beating in North Carolina

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Federal agents have opened a criminal investigation into a white North Carolina police officer shown on body camera footage beating a black man accused of jaywalking.

State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Patty McQuillan said in an email Wednesday that an FBI criminal investigation was launched into the actions of Asheville police officer Christopher Hickman on Aug. 25, 2017. She said the state agency is assisting.

Hickman was shown on body camera footage subduing and punching 33-year-old Johnnie Jermaine Rush after officers accused Rush of crossing outside of a crosswalk. Hickman resigned in January.

The case became public after The Citizen-Times newspaper published footage last week. On Wednesday night, angry residents questioned the police chief at a community meeting about why the case was kept from public view for so long.