On Monday, Sept. 26, Greensboro, North Carolina city leaders released body cam footage from a June 17 police assault.
On the day of the incident, Greensboro Officer Travis Cole and his female partner approached resident Dejuan Yourse about an alleged breaking and entering call in the area.
But the two officers got into a exchange with the resident resulting in Yourse being beaten and placed in handcuffs.
Upon the footage’s release, city officials unanimously decided to permanently suspend Cole’s law enforcement certification. Others demand punishment for the accompanying officer who has not been reprimanded for her involvement.
According WXII News 12, Cole was placed on paid administrative leave on Aug. 10 and resigned Aug. 19 during an ongoing investigation. After his resignation all possible charges Cole faced were dropped, per a FOX8 news report.
In the cam footage, the female officer questions Yourse after seeing that he had a shovel in his hands. Yourse tells the officer that he was doing yard work and was waiting for his mother to open the door.
However, the resident’s explanation for being outside the home was not good enough for officers.
By the midpoint of the 12-minute footage, Cole asks Yourse more questions for being at the home without a key.
Yourse says his ID had the home address on it and neighbors knew him, but Cole continued to press the resident. Throughout the entire incident Yourse was beyond compliant but grew agitated as time passed. Eventually he calls an unknown person to alert them the police is at his home and they are harassing him. The officer immediately tried to arrest Yourse. As described by other officials who viewed the footage, things got “ugly.” Yourse can be heard repeatedly asking Cole why he punched him in his mouth and eye. Cole defended his use of force by claiming Yourse was resisting.
Subsequently, the female officer handcuffed Yourse.
“I wouldn’t dare as a chief tell anyone this kinda thing never happens,” Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott told FOX8. “We have around 900 employees. [That’s] over 680 sworn police officers on any given day getting dozens and dozens of calls and interactions. But what they can be assured of is we take this very serious.”
FOX 8 reporter Sarah Krueger tweeted that city officials only knew about the footage because of a departmental leak.
Speaker on the floor saying the only reason we know about this incident w/ Cole is bc a police officer on the inside leaked info. @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/zphDhodcUq
— Sarah Krueger (@WRALSarah) September 26, 2016
Some city leaders would like to see the female officer punished as well.
Speaker now saying female officer at Yourse incident is just as guilty as Officer Cole. Says she needs to be punished. @myfox8
— Sarah Krueger (@WRALSarah) September 26, 2016
Chief Scott says he agrees with council resolution that Travis Cole should no longer be able to serve in law enforcement anywhere. @myfox8
— Sarah Krueger (@WRALSarah) September 26, 2016
Following the meeting, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan and Scott apologized to Yourse.
