Over the weekend Chad Gibson, the man who was hospitalized after the TABC/Fort Worth Stonewall-style raid of the gay Fort Worth bar The Rainbow Lounge, spoke out:
Although the city has asked the U.S. Attorney General to review the investigation, Gibson said he has lost all confidence in law enforcement.
“You used excessive force and that’s why I got hurt,” he said. After seven days in the hospital, he’s not out of the woods. There is still a blood clot in his brain, behind his right eye. “I’m scared that something might happen,” Gibson said. “It might start bleeding.”
Gibson said the city and officers have pointed the blame in the wrong direction. “They have blamed it on me, that I was drunk [and] that I hit my head,” he said. “I groped the officer. I did this. I did that. You know what, no … Accept responsibility.” Gibson said he is also frustrated at the city pointing the blame at the TABC. “Even if the Fort Worth Police didn’t touch me, they watched it,” he said. “They watched other people do that to me.”
The Fort Worth police have suspended joint raids with the TABC following the Gibson’s injuries, which the TABC has admitted occurred while in its custody.
And, on Sunday evening, dozens of protesters turned out in downtown Fort Worth to demonstrate against the brutality committed against Gibson:
“I saw eight to nine officers run to the back and pin him down,” Chuck Potter told the crowd Sunday. “I was so mad. They put him in a neck hold. I was so mad that I got out my camera and took pictures. . . .
Potter’s photos are the ones that I have been featuring up to this point.
Finally, An American Civil Liberties Union official said the organization is reviewing the Chad Gibson abuse incident.
Video of Gibson speaking out.
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