Family claims excessive force by police at Ohio pool
FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Community leaders are speaking out after another video has surfaced of police clashing with African American teenagers at a swimming facility.
The latest conflict took place last week at the Fairfield Aquatic Center in Fairfield, Ohio. The family involved say they were mistreated and ultimately injured by officers, but police officials say they were just doing their jobs.
It unfolded June 9, when Krystal Dixon took her children, nieces and nephews to a waterpark, CBS News affiliate WKRC reported. She had left the teens there to go pick up her sister, but one of them didn't have the proper swimwear and they called Dixon to tell her they had to leave.
Dixon returned to the park about 15 minutes later, and went in to speak to employees, but at that point was grabbed by a police officer. A violent struggle between Dixon, her family and police ensued, resulting in several injuries to them. Arrests were made.
The scuffle was caught on cellphone video.
Fairfield Police Chief Mike Dickey said, "Officers are not misbehaving, they are simply trying to bring a situation under control by using their hands to get people in compliance."
But Bishop Bobby Hilton, a spokesman for the family, who is also with the National Action Network, says police used excessive force. "So the question becomes: Was this family treated like that because they're black? I don't know! But that's going to be a major question," said Hilton.
He said several people in the group were hospitalized, including Dixon, who is six-months pregnant and a 12-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw and three fractured ribs. Dickey said he never heard that anyone had been injured.
A lawyer for two of the women arrested during the confrontation asked a judge to drop the charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
This latest incident comes just weeks after a racially charged conflict between black teenagers and a police officer in McKinney, Texas, in which a girl was forced to the ground by policeman, who also pointed his service weapon at two other teens. He later resigned.