Over the weekend, clips of a Florida white cop body slamming a Black woman to the wet pavement before putting her in a chokehold during school pickup went viral. Some folks say the cop used excessive force while others say she resisted a simple citation. Now, the woman in the video is speaking out about the incident.
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Picture this: it’s a rainy afternoon on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in Jacksonville, Florida. Erika McGriff, 39, went to pick up her nine-year-old daughter from school in the city’s Riverview neighborhood when she, according to CBS News, left her car running at an intersection. What many believe should have been a routine pick-up turned violent when she was approached by Randy Holton, an officer working at the school.
This is when things took a vicious turn.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Holton approached McGriff, she walked away, then a verbal altercation ensued that turned physical when he tried to arrest her. Police body cam footage revealed the pair going at it.
McGriff got up from the ground, squared up with the officer and took a swing, and the cop swung back, slamming her down and putting her in a chokehold. At one point, McGriff, whose driver’s license had been revoked, said she couldn’t breathe when Holton had a handful of her locs in his hand.
She’s since been slapped with three felony charges; battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and operating a vehicle with a revoked license.
Now, McGriff, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump who vows to fight said charges, is speaking her truth for the first time, calling everything that went down “uncalled for and is not fair.”
“All I was trying to do is get my daughter out of school. That’s all,” McGriff said during a press conference. “I asked the principal what was the proper procedure when picking up the walkers whenever it was raining. He explained to me the procedures. I then went to pick up my daughter.”
Check it out for yourself, but viewer discretion is advised.
Crump wants all charges against McGriff dropped, alleging that the cop used “excessive force.” But Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Holton followed policy and noted how McGriff resisted arrest.
“It’s shocking to me that you square up to fight a police officer … maybe then you’re gonna get a citation and go to jail because it’s a third-degree felony,” said Waters.
But that’s not all.
In addition to McGriff, two bystanders, Jasmine Jefferson and Anito Gibson, were also arrested under Florida’s HALO law. What’s the HALO law? It establishes a 25-foot buffer zone around first responders who are actively performing their official duties, and anyone who violates that perimeter can be arrested.
Crump called their charges “bogus” and expressed how “we don’t want to have to keep coming back to have Black people being brutalized and killed.”
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