Proposed 'Travis Law' bill would clarify use of excessive force by police in South Carolina - WBTV
ROCK HILL, S.C. (WBTV) - Local and national organizations are demanding change in the Rock Hill Police Department after a jury found a former officer not guilty of assaulting a man during a violent arrest.
Former Officer Jonathan Moreno was charged with third-degree assault and battery for his involvement in Travis Price’s arrest back in June of 2021.
He was seen in a video tackling Price and arresting him for interfering at a scene where Travis’s brother was being arrested. Now leaders are calling for reform and even taking some action into their own hands to make it happen.
There was a message today at a press conference discussing the aftermath of the Moreno trial - the jury did its job. But a proposed bill on the table could help make police use of excessive force more clear in future cases.
”Everybody across South Carolina and maybe even the nation saw the video and it was very very upsetting,” says York County chapter of Racial Justice Network President Wanda Hemphill.
Frustrations still raw after a jury found former Rock Hill officer Jonathan Moreno not guilty.
”It is getting worse across the nation,” says Racial Justice Network National President James Johnson.
That is what Johnson said when he was asked how police and community relations have been in South Carolina. He feels a jury should not have been able to see this video and still come back with a not guilty verdict.
”We want the racial profiling to stop. We want the police brutality to stop and we’re willing to work with the mayor and everybody else to see that that happens,” says Johnson.
One of the people they are working with is Norma Gray, leader of Get Clear Social Justice Network. She says she already has something in the works.
”The wind got knocked out of us,” says Gray, speaking of her and York County Solicitor Kevin Brackett after the not guilty verdict. “And the best way forward we thought was to do a law.”
Gray’s referring to what she is calling the Travis Law. If enacted, the law would specifically address officers using excessive force and better define it. This is something similar to the laws that swept the nation after George Floyd’s death. She says it will leave fewer questions for jurors to debate in future case.
”The video was, in my opinion and everyone I spoken to, very upsetting and very black and white,” says Gray.
The Travis Law has already gained some traction with two unnamed state House members signing onboard, but Gray knows there is an uphill battle ahead.
”Very positive. Very positive. Now I’m not sure what it will look like when it gets to the Senate but definitely very positive,” she says.
The Travis Law will first have to start out as a bill. The bill will go to a committee then have to pass both South Carolina’s House and Senate before heading to the governor’s desk for a signature.
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source: https://www.wbtv.com/2022/01/31/proposed-travis-law-bill-would-clarify-use-excessive-force-by-police-south-carolina/
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