Kiman Johnson’s family says he is a college graduate looking for a job who is now hospitalized because of injuries sustained at the hands of police.
Cellphone video shows two D.C. police officers holding Johnson while a third officer repeatedly punched him in the face.
“You can see Mr. Johnson get struck over and over again, almost 12 times,” attorney Harry Daniels said.
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“Mr. Johnson suffered multiple fractures in his face,” Daniels said. “Broken nose, fractures in his face.”
“My brother is not a criminal,” Kimani Johnson said. “He’s not a drug dealer. He’s not looking to cause harm to anyone. He’s not trying to violate anyone’s rights. He’s a simple human being, and what happened, it was unacceptable.”
Johnson’s twin sister said her brother is just trying to find a job
“My brother just graduated Savannah State University in May, and he graduated for accounting,” she said.
“We see it all the time, but to see it happen so close to someone I love is disturbing,” said Angela Johnson, a cousin.
Johnson’s attorneys praised D.C.’s police chief and mayor for condemning the incident.
“In many of these cases around the country, there is either a blue wall or a stone of silence, but here there has been the attempt to have accountability,” attorney Bakari Sellars said.
The video appears to show police recovering a gun from Kiman Johnson, but the gun charges were dropped. He was never charged with any drug offense, which is what police say led police to approach him.
His attorneys could not say why he had a gun or whether it was legally registered.
“I don’t know the answers to either of those questions, right now,” Sellars said. “More facts will come out.”
“We’re not talking about somebody who is a member of the Bloods, the Crips or the Gangster Disciples,” Sellars said. “We’re talking about somebody who is a member of an alumni association, who has an accounting degree.”
D.C. police and the mayor’s office did reply to requests for comment on the claims Johnson sustained serious injuries during the incident.
Johnson’s lawyers are calling for the officers to be fired immediately. They said they will seek monetary compensation for Johnson but so far have not filed any lawsuit.
