Graphic testimony in the federal trial of former Memphis Police Officer Bridges McRae, charged with violating the civil rights of transgender woman Duanna Johnson in a February 2008 beating captured on video surveillance. Johnson was later killed in an unrelated shooting.
A former officer testifies the videotaped altercation was a "beatdown", reports the Commercial Appeal.
"Testifying for the prosecution, James Swain said he watched officer
Bridges McRae use his metal handcuffs like brass knuckles to
punch the prisoner several times in the head in the sally port of the
jail. Swain said the incident began when the prisoner, Dwayne Johnson,
refused to be fingerprinted unless McRae called him by his feminine
name, Duanna. 'McRae kept hitting Johnson multiple times in the head,' said Swain, a
probationary officer released by the department. 'Johnson was bleeding
profusely from the head. It was a beatdown. It never should have
happened. ... (McRae) walked by and said "I love to fight." He was very
aggressive and had his chest puffed out. I was speechless.'
Jurors heard a play-by-play from a jailer, reports WREG.
"The jailer said after the altercation, Johnson was bleeding from the
forehead. She demonstrated how McRae used handcuffs as a weapon to hit
Johnson in the face.
The jailer said Johnson wasn't cooperating with the officer and was
refusing to be finger printed because McRae would not call her by the
female name, Duana. She said Duana waved her arms but did not strike back."
Johnson's mother, Hazel Skinner, was in the courtroom and was outraged by the testimony: "I hope justice will be prevailed because that was uncalled for. You don't treat a human being like that not because he didn't stand up and answer to a name that's not his name."
After an FBI investigation, Bridges McRae was indicted on civil rights violations and fired from the Memphis Police Department. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
On November 9 2008, Duanna Johnson was found shot to death. Three men were seen running from the murder scene and were never found. The vast majority of murders of black and Latina transgender women are unsolved. Johnson's case, sadly, is no exception
Background:
Former Officer on Trial for Duanna Johnson Beating
I remember seeing the brutal beating on tape & I was utterly disgusted. Only the scum of the earth would do something like that. I really hope justice will be served.
Duanna's mother not only has to deal with the fact that McCrae's trial is still going on, but also the fact that the murder of her daughter has yet to be solved. This whole thing is so sad.
Hopefully Duanna is resting in peace, free from struggle and hatred.
Posted by: Ashley V. | 11 April 2010 at 17:45