protect and serve brings you todays edition;

Hickory, NC — In 2019, the taxpayers of Hickory, North Carolina found out that they will be shelling out $400,000 after one of their police officers lost his cool and smashed a tiny handcuffed woman into the concrete driveway outside of the jail. Chelsea Doolittle suffered a broken nose and multiple broken teeth as a result of the attack — over a parking ticket violation.

The incident happened in 2013, but the case is only just now coming to a close after then-Hickory Officer Robert George felt the need to savage abuse a defenseless woman. Luckily for Doolittle, the entire incident was captured on the jail’s surveillance video as she was viciously attacked while handcuffed. Finally, after nearly a decade, George is going to prison.

On Thursday, George was sentenced to three years in prison with a year of supervised probation after his release.

“A person’s constitutional rights do not cease to exist during or after an arrest,” said U.S. Attorney Dena J. King of the Western District of North Carolina. “A federal jury rightfully decided that former police sergeant George used excessive force against an individual in his custody, and today’s resentencing reflects the seriousness of his unlawful conduct.”

“Police officers who violently and unlawfully assault people in their custody, causing severe physical injuries and trauma, are not above the law and will be held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This sentencing sends a strong message that the Justice Department will continue to aggressively prosecute officers who abuse their power by using unlawful force on people in their custody.”

“The security video of George’s actions that day in 2013, is sickening,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert R. Wells of the FBI Charlotte Division. “We are grateful to our partners at the Hickory Police Department who immediately began an internal investigation and requested state and federal assistance. We hope today’s resentencing sends a message that no one is above the law, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.”...........read and watch more.........