Yesterday, the Citizen Times reported that a Woodfin officer named Jason Gregg tased a Black man named Jonathan Barker on August 24th, outside of an industrial supply store on Riverside Drive.
Michael Dykes, Woodfin's Police Chief, told the Citizen Times that Barker was "combative and charged at the officers."
A video Citizen Times obtained from a bystander tells a different story. The video shows that Barker was tased upon exiting his vehicle, after several minutes of police screaming at him. He did not charge, nor was he combative.
Let's not mince words, here: the cops lied. Again.
Note: We originally included a perfectly legal embed code here from the Citizen-Times, displaying the video of the incident. The Citizen-Times has responded to that by threatening The Asheville Free Press with legal action. At this time, we have removed the link. Read more about that situation here:
Asheville Free Press
Barker is, as of writing, still being held in Buncombe County Detention Center on charges of assaulting an officer. His bond is set at $50,000.
The full story is only available for paid subscribers of the Citizen Times, here.
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