City of Asheville sues to reinstate officer’s firing after taped beating

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina city is suing to reinstate the firing of a police official accused of making false statements about the videotaped beating of an unarmed black pedestrian by a white officer.

The city of Asheville’s lawsuit seeks to reverse a decision by the city’s civil service board, which found that Capt. Mark Byrd’s actions didn’t warrant his firing. A police chief had fired Byrd in 2018.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that the city’s Sept. 13 lawsuit claims Byrd falsely stated that he recommended a criminal investigation a day after the August 2017 beating of Johnnie Rush. The newspaper reports that Byrd hadn’t filed a response to the suit as of Friday.

In August, former Asheville officer Christopher Hickman was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to beating Rush.