(Update: This story was updated at 5:26 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, to include a statement from the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police. It was updated again at 11:25 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13, to include a link to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case against Joseph Gibson.)
Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna has charged Oklahoma City Police Department Sgt. Joseph Gibson with one count of aggravated assault and battery for throwing 71-year-old Lich Vu to the ground during an Oct. 27 argument about a traffic violation.
Vu has remained hospitalized with face and neck fractures and a brain bleed, Behenna said in a press release announcing the charge Thursday afternoon.
“The Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office takes all use-of-force incidents very seriously,” Behenna said. “We evaluate the law and the facts in each individual case, and in this particular case determined the officer’s actions were an unreasonable use of force.”
As documented in body camera and security camera footage (embedded above), the Oct. 27 altercation occurred as Gibson attempted to issue Vu a citation for his involvement in a minor traffic accident along Northwest 39th Street in Oklahoma City.
Gibson was issuing citations to Vu and the other driver involved. However, Vu objected to his citation and began arguing with the officer about whether he had performed a U-turn. During the argument, Vu told the officer to “shut up,” tapping the officer’s chest with the back of his hand once. Security video shows Gibson then grabbed both of Vu’s wrists and slammed him to the ground before handcuffing him.
In an Instagram post the next day about her father’s condition, Vu’s daughter, Teresa, said he was already frail from bone cancer, and she implied a language barrier may have contributed to the conflict.
“This is not how you treat someone that is 5’3″, 115 (pounds) with bone cancer after a car accident. Especially if English is their second language,” she wrote.
In a statement accompanying incident footage posted to the OKCPD Facebook page Nov. 8, the department said the incident was under review.
“An investigation was immediately initiated, and the officer was placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the investigation. The incident remains under investigation and will be presented to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office soon,” the statement read.
The event has spurred public outrage, especially among the OKC Vietnamese community.
“There is some very, very much uncalled for excessive force and, I think, as a community, we are hurt by that,” Thuan Nguyen, president-elect of the Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma, told KOCO. “It could have been taken in a different way and in a different approach instead of having to body slam a 71-year-old Asian male who has language barriers.”
OKC resident Lou Esjornson aired her concerns to the City Council during a public comment period Nov. 19. She said “a deescalating force is required” when “emotions are running hot.”
“While I am disgusted and heartsick and full of rage over this latest publicized example of police brutality, I am not surprised. I don’t know anyone who is surprised. This is the type of behavior we have come to expect from our police department,” Esjornson said. “”The trust in the police department is so eroded that only radical change will address that. But at a minimum, there needs to be accountability for the officer and the culture that repeatedly produces this type of behavior.”
Aggravated assault and battery is defined by Title 21, Section 646 of state statute as occurring “when great bodily injury is inflicted upon the person assaulted or when committed by a person of robust health or strength upon one who is aged, decrepit or incapacitated.”
If Gibson is convicted by a jury, the range of punishment for aggravated assault and battery is up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $500, according to Behenna’s press release.
A few hours after the charge was filed, Mark Nelson, the president of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 123, issued a statement supporting Gibson.
“The OKC FOP stands behind Sgt. Gibson, who handled this call for service with professionalism,” Nelson said. “It is very disappointing to see a police officer face felony charges for actions taken in good faith while serving in the line of duty. Sgt. Gibson followed his de-escalation training and protocol when assaulted. We recognize the injuries that Mr. Vu sustained, and we are sympathetic to him and his family. However, we believe strongly that every detail of this incident matters and needs to be considered.
“We are deeply concerned about the impact this charging decision will have on the ability of officers to rely on their training and professional judgment to preserve order and protect the public.”
Oklahoma County use-of-force cases scrutinized
Gibson becomes the first on-duty police officer charged by Behenna in a use-of-force case since she took office in January 2023. In July of that year, she dismissed pending manslaughter charges against seven police officers in three separate fatal shootings that had been filed by her predecessor.
“From this point forward, anytime that there is an officer-involved shooting or a death results, those cases are going to be presented and investigated by the grand jury,” Behenna said at the time. “I think that’s what most metropolitan areas do, and I feel confident in the grand jury process that we can do a thorough review of the case and make decisions, again, that are evidence-based and consistent with the law in Oklahoma.”
About two months later, Behenna empaneled a grand jury to review a pair of law enforcement shootings, including a police officer who shot a man in the chest during a chaotic scene when someone else had fired a gun at a Del City football game. Over the next year, other police use-of-force incidents were also presented to that grand jury. Each time, Behenna’s office has announced that the grand jury declined to recommend criminal charges.
In regard to Gibson throwing Vu to the ground Oct. 27, Behenna’s press release Thursday appears to indicate that she did not involve a grand jury. Instead, as district attorneys in Oklahoma are empowered to do, she examined the facts of the situation and determined herself that they warranted a criminal charge being brought against the police officer.
Asked whether a grand jury was involved and, if not, why she handled Gibson’s alleged assault and battery of Vu in a different manner than she has handled other use-of-force scenarios, a spokeswoman for Behenna did not respond prior to the publication of this article.
In October 2023, Behenna charged off-duty Edmond Police Department Officer Jennifer Haddock with manslaughter for shooting and killing her brother during an argument at their mother’s house. Haddock’s attorney is seeking dismissal of the charge by arguing she should be immune from prosecution under the state’s “stand your ground” statute.
On Tuesday, a morning hearing on that motion was delayed until the afternoon. Haddock’s father and mother testified in her defense, and Haddock was on the stand late Tuesday when District Judge Susan Stallings asked that the testimony be continued at 10 a.m. Friday.
Last month, the OKC City Council approved a reported $1.5 million lawsuit settlement with the family of Bennie Edwards, a 60-year-old homeless man who was fatally shot in the back by an OKCPD sergeant while experiencing a mental health crisis.
On Nov. 30, OKCPD officer Shamar Kitchens was arrested on a rape complaint while off duty in Canadian County, which is in District Attorney Tommy Humphries’ jurisdiction. No charging decision has been announced in that case, but the reporting party filed and received an emergency order of protection against Kitchens for his alleged behavior while they were driving in a car.
“[Kitchens grabbed] me by my hair and dragged me to the floor board because he saw me texting men on my phone,” the woman wrote. “After we dropped [his sister] off he continuously punched me in the head and face and dragged me by my hair when he saw something in my phone he didn’t like or I said something he didn’t like. He threatened to kill my daughter, him and I multiple times. He raped me in the backseat then held a gun to my head. When he dropped me off at home he said if I told anyone what happened he would kill me, our daughter and himself.”
Kitchens could become the second OKCPD officer to be charged with rape this year. In June, OKCPD Sgt. Ryan Stark was arrested and charged in McClain County after an ex-girlfriend reported that he illegally detained and raped her after a date.
Read the probable cause affidavit against Joseph Gibson
