August, 16 2022, 10:43am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Media Contact for Rev. Dr. William Barber:
mwaggoner@breachrepairers.org
Media Contact for Attorneys:
mcw@wukelacom.com
Nationally Recognized Moral, Religious & Social Justice Leader Bishop Barber Joins Call for Justice for Man Paralyzed by Police Officer in Beaumont, Texas
Important announcement at news conferences this week involving Christopher Shaw, man attacked while handcuffed
WASHINGTON
Attorneys and advocates for Christopher Shaw, the Black man paralyzed by a Beaumont police officer while in custody last year for public intoxication, will make an important announcement this week.
Bishop William J. Barber II, DMin, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach and national co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, will join the call for justice for Shaw, who was severely injured on June 12, 2021, while in custody. Bishop Barber will join both an online news conference at 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET Wednesday (Aug. 17) and an in-person news conference at 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET Thursday (Aug. 18) at The Church of I Am, 2204 Blanchette St., Beaumont.
The in-person news conference, which Shaw will attend, will be livestreamed here.
Shaw, 41, is represented by renowned civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels (The Law Offices of Harry Daniels), Chimeaka White (The White Law Firm) and Chance Lynch (Lynch Law). Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition and representatives of the Beaumont chapter of the state NAACP also will join the news conferences.
Body camera video of the assault shows that Shaw was handcuffed and restrained by deputies at the Jefferson County jail when Beaumont Police Officer James Gillen "body slammed" him onto the jail's concrete floor. Shaw, who posed no physical threat to Gillen or any of the officers present, broke his neck when he landed on his head. .
Shaw's attorneys have viewed the video, which officials with the Beaumont Police Department have refused to release publicly. The news conferences follow national outrage over Randy Cox, the 36-year-old black man paralyzed while being transported by police in New Haven, Connecticut.
WHO
Christopher Shaw (for Thursday news conference)
Bishop William J. Barber II
Attorney Harry Daniels
Attorney Chimeaka White
Attorney Chance Lynch
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition
The Texas NAACP
WHEN
3 PM CT/4 PM ET on Wednesday, Aug. 17 - Virtual
10 AM CT/11 AM ET on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022 - In person
WHERE
Online here - Wednesday
The Church of I AM, 2204 Blanchette St., Beaumont, Texas - Thursday
Repairers of the Breach is a nonpartisan 501c3 tax exempt not-for-profit organization that seeks to build a moral agenda rooted in a framework that uplifts our deepest moral and constitutional values to redeem the heart and soul of our country.
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