Wake DA won’t ask SBI to investigate alleged traffic-stop beating by Raleigh police
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman will not ask the State Bureau of Investigation to review the actions of two police officers shown kicking and punching a man after a traffic stop in a video that has drawn the ire of community activists in Southeast Raleigh.
In a Thursday press release, Raleigh police said they met with Freeman to go over dashboard and body-camera footage from the Tuesday traffic stop, where the decision not to seek an SBI investigation was made. “The SBI most commonly investigates the use of lethal force,” Freeman said.
The district attorney stressed her decision is not a judgment on whether excessive force was used against 22-year-old Brialy Batista and she could still bring charges.
The Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards will conduct a criminal investigation and present Freeman with its findings — standard practice with all accusations of excessive force. At the end of that investigation, she could decide whether officers broke the law in dealing with Batista.
“This deserves a thorough review,” Freeman said. “I’m confident RPD can do that given the fact there is substantial video available.”
Having seen the dashcam and bodycam video, not yet made public, Freeman said the events leading up to the traffic stop and the driver’s noncompliance set up a “difficult situation.”
But once that video is available, “People may have even more concerns about it, frankly.”
During a press conference Thursday, activists renewed their call for an oversight board to monitor Raleigh police, a response to the incident that left the driver in the video, Batista, bloody.
Speaking from Raleigh’s Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, Kerwin Pittman also demanded that all charges be dropped against Batista.
“We as a community, as citizens of Raleigh, as taxpayers will not continue to remain silent when there’s a continuous tsunami of brutality pounded on the very people that the Raleigh Police Department are sworn to protect and serve,” said Pittman, who is also director of Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services.
Navaho Drive traffic stop
Police said Wednesday they will look into the two officers’ conduct after the traffic stop on Navaho Drive. Officers had responded to reports of a car involved in two hit-and-run collisions in the area, along with a third involving a utility pole. They spotted a car matching the description and pulled it over after seeing erratic driving, police said.
In the video, Batista can be seen getting kneed in the ribs, punched in the back and dragged out of the car, where the footage shows him face-down with blood around his eyes. Interviewed Wednesday, Batista said he was hit so hard he forgot most of what happened, but that he was hospitalized and got stitches in his face before being booked on numerous misdemeanor charges, including hit and run, possession of marijuana and resisting arrest.
Police said the car’s driver appeared to be impaired and that Batista ignored commands to place his hands on the wheel and get out of the car.
Activists claim excessive force
Pittman and other activists Thursday said Batista’s beating was excessive by any standard, regardless of the alleged offenses. He called for officers to receive both deescalation and racial sensitivity training.
“It sends a ton of messages at once: Comply or you will be beaten,” Pittman said. “Look at his face. He was unconscious because he was accused of hitting some parked cars?”
Rolanda Byrd, whose 24-year-old son, Akiel Denkins, was shot by Raleigh police while running from an officer in 2016, said the community remembers past violent encounters with police and is reluctant to make any contact with them.
“The Police Department is considered a gang to us,” she said.
Many community organizations have long sought an oversight board with subpoena power, which Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown has said she opposes.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 4:10 PM.