Jason Goolsby.
MPD has determined that police were justified in the detention of 18-year-old Jason Goolsby last month, according to a report that’s the result of a month-long internal investigation.
The African American freshman at the University of the District of Columbia gained social media attention (sparking the hashtag #JusticeForJason) after a now-viral video showed him being forcibly detained by D.C. police after he visited an ATM. Activists later shut down Pennsylvania Avenue during a protest at the scene of the incident at Citibank in Eastern Market.
The detainment took place on October 13 after D.C. Police said that they got a call “for a suspicious person, three subjects may be trying to rob people at the ATM,” according to MPD. The caller was a white woman who told the 911 operator that she “felt like if we had taken money out we might’ve gotten robbed.”
Two days later, Goolsby and his attorney described the scene at a press conference at UDC. The attorney, Peter Grenier, said that, unaware of the call, Goolsby left the bank and headed toward a bus stop when a fast-moving police SUV headed straight toward him. Thinking that the car was about to run him over, he quickly jumped on the curb and was both scared and bewildered when the white police officer driving the car demanded he get on the ground, Grenier said.
In fear for his life, Goolsby said at the press conference, he ran. The moments after police catch up to him is where the publicly released video begins. Goolsby can be seen twisting in pain while his friend Mike Brown shouts that Goolsby didn’t do anything.
Grenier said he has no doubt that “if these young men were white, none of this would have happened” and indicated that they plan to sue.
Obtained by DCist today, the MPD report, which is based on physical and testimonial evidence, said the officers used options that were “reasonably necessary to bring this situation under control” and to “overcome the level of resistance” offered by Goolsby. And the force used was the “minimum amount of force necessary” to restrain him.
Fox first reported on the conclusion of MPD’s investigation.
