Attorneys for Travis Price, a black man who was wrongfully arrested more than two years ago, say their client has come to terms on a $500,000 settlement for his lawsuit against the city of Rock Hill, South Carolina. For people that don't know, Rock Hill, South Carolina is right outside of Charlote, North Carolina. It might as well be Charlote. [00:00:16] Per WCNC, Price settlement is one of the largest in the city's history. According to copy of the complaint of Tamed by Atlanta Blackstar on June 23, 2021, Price was driving home when he saw that his brother, Ricky Price was being arrested at a gas station. [00:00:34] He pulled into the parking lot and approached where officers were holding Ricky. The officers ordered Price to stand by while they removed Ricky's handcuffs so they could give him his brother's jury. This is according to the Atlanta Black Star. Simultaneously, according to the complaint, [00:00:50] Rock Hill Officer Jonathan Moreno was executing a search of Ricky's car. When he finished, he approached a group and allegedly attacked Price without cause of legal justification. A bystanders video show Moreno on top of Price while he is lying on the concrete. [00:01:08] The officers struggle to restrain Ricky, who noticed what is happening to his brother. And this, of course, is again according to Atlanta Blackstar. And we actually have attained some video about that. So let's take a look at this video. [00:01:29] >> Speaker 2: This is how Rocky will do you, y'all. [NOISE] What is he doing to him? What is he doing to him? I got it on camera. I got it on camera. He ain't doing nothing, y'all. [00:01:46] I don't care. Look at this. Look at this, y'all. My God. My God. Look at this out. Look at this. He ain't doing nothing, y'all. Look, he not doing nothing. My God. My God. Somebody come help them. [00:02:03] He ain't even do. Look at him, y'all. Look at the police. Look at the police. He got him on a fight. Travis is a good boy. He is a good boy. Look how they tasing him, y'all. I'm getting closer. Look how they beating his ass. He ain't even doing that. Get out for him. [00:02:18] Get out for him. My God. My God. Get out for him. He is beating him. My God. That's up, they locking him up for nothing. Y'all, look at this. I'm glad I got it on live. [00:02:33] I got it online. They gonna go down for this, y'all. Look at his face. My God, y'all. Look at his face. My God, look at his face y'all. Y'all wrong for that. [00:02:50] >> Speaker 1: This is so ridiculous and also so American. The cameras don't stop them. We know that. We watched them choke George Floyd with their knee on his neck and [00:03:06] their hands in their pocket. And the movement that came after it wasn't enough. Because if you look at each year since George Floyd's murder, the police killing black men has went up. What we just watched is gang style beating sanctioned by the United States [00:03:22] government, in this case, Rock Hill, South Carolina. According to Atlanta Black Star, Price was choked, physically assaulted, slammed to the pavement with great force, handcuffed and placed under arrest. The complaints say throughout the assault, [00:03:37] Price attempted on multiple occasions to inform Moreno that he was merely doing what other city officers had instructed him to do. Price kept his hands in the air in a non threatened manner, and Price at no time attempted to, nor did he make physical contact with Moreno or any other officers. [00:03:56] Price stated that he was complying, was not resisting arrest, and he had not done anything wrong. We watched that. We know that. Following the incident, Price was charged with hindering police, but was later cleared of wrongdoing. However, per his lawsuit, the city attempted to disparage [00:04:15] him in their statements about the incident s it alleged, he was uncooperative shut officers, and yelled belligerently. This is only telling of what the South, what America believes black men can and can't do. [00:04:31] Basically, you cannot stand up or speak out against white men. And when you do, even though he wasn't yelling belligerently, the fact that he was standing straight, the fact that he would dare stop and see why his brother's been arrested, all of that is questioning establishment in [00:04:48] a way that makes him deserving of the ass whipping we just watched. Say what you want. This is America. This is commonplace. This is commonplace. And these videos don't stop it. So all these people say, at least we got videos of it. We had videos of Bloody Sunday, y'all. [00:05:03] Bloody Sundays happened in the 60s. We still got cops hitting people across the head with knife stickers and further punching them in their face, beating them as if we are animals, and in most cases, some cases, shooting them to their dead. Sharon, what do you say about this? [00:05:19] >> Speaker 5: Well, I'd start with this. Look at how the conversation pivots, even look at where they have a starting. We're literally arguing over the fact, or they want us to, whether this black man was perfect enough to not deserve a beating. [00:05:34] Wouldn't you be belligerent if you were getting mixed signals, and then they tased your ass. Wouldn't you be belligerent? This small city in South Carolina, and you'd know better than I am, Mayor. I don't know why I always think you're the expert on everything in the South but [00:05:50] you know a lot. They pride themselves. They even have a mural in front of the mercantile. I think it is honoring the friendship nine who sat in at that lunch counter. All about desegregating things. It was a test case, and it picked up momentum from there. And they had that mural. [00:06:07] No room for racism. There's plenty. Again, I don't fault the people who wanna honor history and brave people who came before them, but there is plenty of room for racism in Rock Hill because we just watched it. [00:06:22] That's not an isolated incident. That's not a misunderstanding. When you beat the you know what out of someone really on first sight, that's what it's called, racism. I don't believe a white woman would be treated that way. And nowhere in there did I say they've never been treated that way. [00:06:39] I just mean it's commonplace for us to have to deal with this. Doing the right thing. I wanna get to a place in America that I don't know we'll get to in my lifetime, or perhaps my daughters, where you can actually do the wrong thing and [00:06:55] not get your ass beaten. >> Speaker 1: Indeed, I mean and we see instance where people do the wrong thing and still don't get handled and treated this way. Unfortunately, they don't look like us. But this is not it. The city's false statements would be reported by media outlets and [00:07:11] amplified by officials like Representative Ralph Norman. While Norman, who is also listed as a defendant in the complaint, updated his post days later, he failed to retract his original defamatory statement, which led to a wave of comments attacking Price. [00:07:26] As for the officer Moreno, he was fired from the department and charged with third degree assault and battery. But a jury, of course, a jury found him not guilty last year. Listen to me, we have to remind people, Sharon, on a regular basis. [00:07:44] And people may say Mundale is a broken record when it comes to policing and black bodies. We have to remind people that to be black in America and interact with police officer is almost a death sentence, surefire. The fact that juries don't defend or [00:08:00] see guilt in what we just watched is absolutely baffling to me. Sharon, I'm gonna give it to you before we go to break. >> Speaker 5: Well, that's because these juries are by and large, looking for ways to exonerate the indefensible. [00:08:16] They're actually looking for it. And the civil rights lessons we learned, the painful ones, Medgar Evers, the rest, these are the lessons that are being played out again today. They're looking for ways to clear white people because our blood is not worth anything. [00:08:34] Black skin, black trauma is not as important or even worth noting sometimes. So, of course, walked free and third degree assault. Give me a break, really? And the media, hey, I had these fights all the time, Mayor. All the time in the newsroom. [00:08:50] I just wanted to tell the truth. And a police statement where someone's convicted that they handed me across the desk is not the truth. It's an element that needs to be qualified. And we know too often police lie. Yeah, I said it. [00:09:06] They do lie too often, not isolated, as you said, not bad apples. This is what we're working with. >> Speaker 1: And I think it's a shame that I need to say this, but I had a confrontation this morning at the poll that I was just sparked about. Somebody told me that I show up as racist because I point out the things that have [00:09:24] happened to black people in the past as it pertains to white supremacy and are still happening and their connections between the two. I wanna say this, and I don't normally say this, if you are a white person and you are offended that we are talking about the policing system in this light, [00:09:41] and also all of the systems that oppress black people and other folk of color and other minorities in this country. I think you need to do a self check, honestly, because you may be harboring something. What makes you believe that you are responsible for the targeting and [00:09:58] harm that black people feel and go through unless you are okay with it?