(Counter Current News) — No, it’s not the McKinney pool incident. But shortly after the Texas altercation that went viral, a very similar situation happened in Fairfield, Ohio. Fairfield was the home of John Crawford, who was killed last summer for holding a BB-gun he picked up off a suburban Walmart shelf.
In the Fairfield suburb of Cincinnati, police and patrons of the Fairfield Aquatic Center saw a disturbing incident of police brutality go down just a week ago.
That incident, all caught on video, shows an assault by police that witnesses are calling “unnecessary,” “inappropriate,” even “injurious.”
Take a look at the footage of the incident:
It all happened on Tuesday, June 9th, when officers from the Fairfield Police Department arrived in response to a call of “a group of juveniles” who were asked to leave because someone had a problem with their swimming attire.
That incident quickly escalated to the police using physical violence and pepper stray on the teens.
In all, four people were arrested, including two adults. The children taken by the police were only 12 and 15-years-old.
The two adults arrest, Krystal and Maya Dixon, appeared in court this week, facing charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Tuesday, Bishop Bobby Hilton, the leader of Word Deliverance Ministries in Forest Park, held a conference where he played the video Dixon’s family was able to record that day.
He also showed photographs of the two children who had to be hospitalized due to the violence the police used against them.
Hilton described his own reaction to the police brutality as “shocked” and “embarrassed”. He characterized this as “ridiculous” and “excessive” use of force, on behalf of the police.
Not surprisingly, Fairfield Police Chief Michael J. Dickey felt very differently about the police use of violence against children.
He said that the video clips “reinforce” his belief that the officers did everything right.
“All they are trying to do is calm everyone down,” Dickey said in a pro-police article run by The Cincinnati Enquirer.
“It’s just business” he said, almost like a mafia hitman.
Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller said that he too has seen surveillance video of the incident. He said he agrees that the police didn’t do anything wrong by breaking the jaw and rib of a child at the pool.
“This is an unfortunate situation and our officers had a tough situation there. But I think they did a good job in showing restraint,” Miller claimed.
“Restraint” for Ohio cops is apparently defined as smashing the bones of children.
Miller admitted that he has neglected to watch the first-hand footage shot of the incident.
“Give us some time to review this and give a response,” the mayor said, when asked why he didn’t watch the 1:17 long video.
“I’ve talked to the police chief, the city manager and the parks and recreation director. We have to complete our investigation. But if anyone else has more information about this, we’d like them to provide that to us.”
Hilton was very upset that he was even being bothered with questions about this police brutality.
“It really disturbs me that I’m here,” Hilton said. “I don’t want to be known as someone who stands against police officers.”
Got it.
“I have not seen any behavior that should have escalated the situation,” Hilton said, in a somewhat confusing manner. Apparently he doesn’t understand that breaking the jaw and rib of a child is escalating a previously non-violent situation.
Hilton admitted the seriousness of these injuries in a Facebook post he made Monday. But at the press conference, he refused to acknowledge what the family, community and even his Facebook post, all attest to: that a 12-year-old girl suffered a broken jaw and at least one broken rib because of the police violence at the pool that day.
Fairfield City Council member Mike Snyder said he hoped this case won’t be “tried in the media.”
So far, the national, corporate, mainstream media has complied with that request, by completely ignoring this incident, even in spite of the obvious parallels to the McKinney pool incident that received so much attention.
“In all those kinds of video, you don’t know what came before,” he said of videos where people document police brutality.
“I did not see any excessive force. It appears the police were attempting to restrain the teens in a professional way.”
“It’s a sad situation whenever you have a confrontation between an officer and a group of people, it’s always a volatile situation.”
Hilton suggests that racism played a key factor here, just like in the McKinney 911 call. He said he heard 911 audio made by a pool employee who claimed she was “scared” of the young children.
“Would she have come to the same conclusion if everyone was white?” Hilton openly wondered.
This article was originally published by Counter Current News.