In Fairfield, Ohio, police officers were caught on camera roughing up pre-teens and a pregnant woman in bathing suits and macing them on June 9 at a pool.
The incident began when Krystal Dixon says she dropped off her kids and nieces at Fairfield Aquatic Center pool but one child didn’t have a bathing suit. The pool staff told the kids to leave but wouldn’t give them a refund and then the police were called, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, though video in the article shows there was already what appears to be a pool security guard and an officer on the premises.
What ensued afterward was filmed as one officer pushed a screaming and crying 12-year-old up against a patrol car in her bathing suit. Another teen was maced inside her mouth while still others were held by their necks and a pregnant woman was pressed into an iron gate by multiple cops. Local activist Bishop Bobby Hilton wrote on Facebook that the girl, Dixon’s niece, has a fractured jaw and broken ribs.
Ultimately, four people were arrested, including two adults, Krystal and Maya Dixon, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old.
Krystal and Maya are slated to appear in court on Wednesday to face charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and swimming while black.
During a news conference highlighting what appears to be police misconduct and how what happened in McKinney, Texas can occur anywhere, Hilton aired the aforementioned clip and said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” at the police department’s excessive use of force on the teens.
In response, the Fairfield Police Chief Michael J. Dickey said this after viewing the video:
“All they are trying to do is calm everyone down,” Dickey told The Enquirer. “It’s just business.”
Then Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller followed up with this:
“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 said.
Then Miller added he hadn’t even bothered to watch the video of cops twisting the arms of children in a city he’s been appointed to care for. Cool, definitely keep this guy in office Fairfield locals. He absolutely gives a shit about whether you live or die and how your children are treated.
Hilton says he was called into the situation after the Dixon family went to the police department on the Friday following the incident to file a report against the offending officers and were told they couldn’t. Then they asked to see the police chief and were told they couldn’t.
Naturally, Dickey has an excuse for why he didn’t—despite the pool protests in McKinney, Texas just last week—speak to the family, saying he was “out of the office.” His staff told them to come back but they never did.
A Fairfield City Councilman named Mike Synder has weighed in to make sure he was counted among those on the wrong side of this situation as well.
“In all those kinds of video, you don’t know what came before,” he said of recordings made by bystanders. “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.”
Yes, because 12-year-old girls in bathing suits warrant broken jaws, ribs and mace from grown men wielding weapons and pepper spray when their crime was not bringing one swimsuit.
Come on, America! You’re trying to ruin summer and it just started!
Contact the author at Hillary@jezebel.com.
Image via Youtube.