1st Cop To Stand Trial For Beating Black Teen On Videotape Found Not Guilty

Even though a security camera showed Houston, Texas, police officers stomping and kicking then-15-year-old burglar Chad Holley (pictured below), jurors unfortunately decided Wednesday afternoon that the first officer on trial for the beating, Andrew Blomberg (pictured left), is not guilty of official oppression, according to the Associated Press.

RELATED: Police Beat Teen On Tape, But Get Charged With Misdemeanor

On the videotape, Holley is seen laying face down on the ground, while several officers kick and stomp him. Still, Blomberg testified that Holley was resisting arrest — and while it may have looked as though he was abusing the teen — he was actually using his foot to move Holley’s arm.

Watch the police beating of Holley here:

Even Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. testified that he believed that Blomberg assaulted the teen.

The Associated Press reports:

Prosecutors told jurors that Blomberg kicked the teenager several times and Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. testified that he believed Blomberg kicked and stomped on the teen.

Not surprisingly, the all-White jurors still came to the decision that Blomberg was not guilty of abusing Holley. If Blomberg was found guilty of his misdemeanor charge, he would have faced up to a year in prison. Three other police officers will stand trial for the offense. Relieved that he had gotten off, Blomberg contemplated whether he would consider going back in to law enforcement:

“This is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do in my entire life,” Blomberg said referring to being a police officer. “And I’m just glad this part is finally over.”

Obviously, our community wasn’t happy with the outcome of this trial. Rev. James Dixon of Community Faith Church said amid chants of “racism!” and “injustice!” “It is pathetic. It is unacceptable. This kind of expression says to me, to my children and to every Black child in the city, `Your life is not worth manure.’”

Of his client, attorney Dick DeGuerin said, “Andrew Blomberg is truly a hero in what he did that day. I believe that.”

In March 2010, Holley and his three friends stole a piano keyboard and some alcohol from a Houston townhome. When authorities stopped their truck, Holley ran from the vehicle. On trial, Holley said that after police knocked him over with a patrol car, he put his hands up in surrender.

This, and the beating that followed, would be caught on tape.