Bodycam footage of the Chicago cop who violently wrestled with a Black woman walking her dog in a park was released Thursday, and it looks even more violent than the witness cellphone video capturing the altercation late August.
The video, released by lawyers for Nikkita Brown, shows her being approached by a white cop after midnight Aug. 28 at North Avenue Beach on the city’s Southside. The cop, identified as Bruce Dyker by Brown’s lawyers, is shown being extremely aggressive from the beginning, yelling at her to get out of the park. According to ABC News, Brown said the incident started while Dyker was in his vehicle and told her to leave the park, which she was doing. He decided to drive behind her and then eventually got out of the vehicle.
She is seen complying and also asking Dyker, who has since been placed on desk duty, to maintain social distancing and to put on a mask, which he doesn’t do. As she was walking towards the exit, he’s menacing her, getting very close to her as she was walking away. At one point, she turned to call a friend about the situation because she didn’t feel safe, she said in an interview with ABC News earlier this month. The cop then threatens to arrest her if she doesn’t keep moving. That is when the tussle took place.
Their physical altercation lasted two minutes and Brown remained on her feet. Eventually, Brown and Dyker separated and left the scene without the cop cuffing her.
“I knew if he got me on the floor, I would be dead,” Brown told ABC News.
Here is more from ABC News:
Brown told “Good Morning America” earlier this month that she believes she was targeted because she’s Black and said she hopes that her speaking out will stop others from being targeted.
“I walked past four kids that were behind me … white males. As soon as I saw the car pull up, I looked behind me to see if he said anything to the kids. He didn’t,” Brown said.
The bodycam video was released last Thursday by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), the group investigating the incident.
A COPA spokesperson told ABC News that the investigation is ongoing and once it concludes, COPA will send recommendations to the Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown to review.
“Ultimately. we want him fired, given this incident and his horrible disciplinary record,” Brown’s attorney, Keenan Saulter, told ABC News.
Of course, Dyker has racked up 24 allegations of misconduct. Three resulted in discipline.