An elderly Oklahoma man with cancer was severely injured when a police officer forcefully shoved him onto the ground while investigating a traffic stop.
Lich Vu, 70, was violently thrown onto the pavement during an argument with Oklahoma City Police Department officer Joseph Gibson at the scene of a collision on Oct. 27, troubling footage shared by the department showed.
The footage opens with a view of Vu seated in the driver’s seat of his car while Gibson tells him he is writing a ticket for an improper U-turn.
“I didn’t do that,” Vu insisted.
The older man got out of the car a few minutes later, and the pair continued to argue.
When Gibson warned Vu that he would go to jail if he did not sign the ticket, Vu said “I’m ready to go to jail.”
“You’re ready to go to jail?” Gibson scoffed. “Ridiculous. OK. That involves impounding your car too.”
Gibson then talked with the other driver involved in the collision, who was given a ticket.
When Gibson returned to discuss the situation with Vu, the elderly man seemed to whack Gibson on the chest with the back of his hand.
“You shut up,” Vu snapped.
The officer then yanked Vu’s arm and twisted it before throwing the man to the ground and putting him in handcuffs, the footage showed.
The handcuffs were allegedly removed after the paramedics were called, the KWTV-9 reported.
Vu – who has bone cancer – had surgery to repair a brain bleed, and was treated for a fractured neck that requires him to use a feeding tube to eat, his daughter told the outlet.
As of Monday, Vu was still in and out of consciousness, News 4 reported.
Vu’s family accused Gibson of using excessive force during the confrontation, causing the department to issue a statement saying the matter was under investigation.
Gibson is on administrative leave while the probe is ongoing.
Vu’s injuries also sparked outcry from Oklahoma City’s Vietnamese community, News 4 said.
“I feel like that’s pretty excessive,” said Thuan Nguyen, president-elect for Vietnamese American Communities of Oklahoma.
“You shouldn’t argue with the cop, but in certain cases, I feel like we should be able to give and be given an opportunity to hear our side of the story before a citation gets issued,” he added.
While Vu can speak English, there may have been a language barrier that caused a miscommunication between him and the cop, Nguyen noted.
“Our Asian community feels an implicit bias,” he said.
Read the full article here
