TS/TV/CD Love Blog – Because Of Your Uniqueness

A Tennessee federal jury heard testimony this week from a former Memphis police officer James Swain, that another officer, Bridges McRae, used his metal handcuffs like brass knuckles to punch a transgender prisoner several times in the head.
Former Officer Swain testified:

“McRae kept hitting Johnson multiple times in the head,” said Swain, a probationary officer released by the department. “Johnson was bleeding profusely from the head. It was a beatdown. It never should have happened. … (McRae) walked by and said ‘I love to fight.’ He was very aggressive and had his chest puffed out. I was speechless.”

The 2008 beating of Dwayne Johnson was initiated when Ms Johnson was arrested for prostitution and refused to be fingerprinted unless Officer McRae called her by her feminine name, Duanna. Ms Johnson didn’t respond to a nasty name regarding her sexual preference and gender identity while in the intake area and Officer McRae proceeded to launch his brutal beating. The videotape was so stirring that it helped launch a group called Stop Police Brutality Memphis.

McRae was fired and is now charged with civil rights violations. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.

Johnson had initiated a 3 million dollar lawsuit against the police force, but she won’t be seeing one penny. She was shot to death in November, 2008.

I’d like to believe that the Memphis police are still pursuing her killer but just how naive can someone be? The reality of the situation is that Ms Johnson’s lifestyle as a prostitute and drug dealer put her in harm’s way. In all likelihood she was killed by one of her customers or drug dealers.

A sad end to a sad life.

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