Prominent civil rights attorney takes up Lich Vu case, lawsuit on the way
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A prominent civil rights attorney has taken the civil rights case of a 71-year-old man slammed to the ground by an Oklahoma City officer during an October traffic stop.
News 4 has been following developments related to the October 27 incident. Multiple videos of the incident shared by Oklahoma City police show Lich Vu and Sgt. Joseph Gibson having a verbal argument over a traffic citation. Vu is seen on video telling Gibson to shut up and touching him, before Gibson proceeded to slam Vu to the ground.
Vu suffered a brain bleed as a result of the incident, broken bones and had to have surgery. Court documents said he was in poor health at the time of the incident and Gibson was in robust health.
"The incident should have been de-escalated," said civil rights attorney Devon Jacob, who's representing Vu. "It was clear that Mr. Vu was not a threat."
Jacob is a former police officer and former Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He's taken on high-profile civil rights cases, serving on legal teams tied to George Floyd and Tyreek Hill.
"With absolute certainty I will say that this is an excessive force," said Jacob.
Court documents previously obtained by News 4 said that Oklahoma City police experts in de-escalation were consulted as part of a criminal investigation into Gibson that led to a felony criminal charge being filed against him by Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna. The experts added that after reviewing the incident, they believed the amount of force Gibson used was not reasonable.
"When your own police department says this is, you know, unlawful and you need to be prosecuted, I kind of think that's where it starts and ends," said Jacob.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond disagreed with that call, deciding in late December to drop the felony assault and battery charge filed against Gibson. Drummond said that Gibson acted within the scope of his training and that Vu shouldn't have put his hands on him. Behenna said that she was surprised and disappointed Drummond had taken the case away from her office.
Jacob said he reviewed the video of the incident and also showed it to other individuals who did not have law enforcement backgrounds, receiving similar reactions of shock. He says it's unusual for an attorney general to step over an elected official in this case.
"I've done this for 22 years and I cannot remember a single time when I've seen the attorney general do what this attorney general did; and it's my understanding it's not the first time. It's highly suspect. It's very unusual."
State law does give Drummond the ability to take over prosecution for cases he believes would fall within the best interests of the State of Oklahoma.
"He decided that, look, this is not a violation of criminal law; therefore I'm going to dismiss it. Well, that was for a jury to decide, and I don't believe that this attorney general has law enforcement experience, whereas the experts in the police department who do have law enforcement experience told him, told in the affidavit that this is an excessive use of force."
Jacob says there's no question about if he will file a federal civil rights lawsuit on the Vu family's behalf, but other than Gibson, it's unclear if any other defendants will be named.
"There will be a civil rights lawsuit filed," said Jacob. "It'll be in federal court....I don't care if it takes one year, if it takes five years. Won't be my first case that lasts five or six years."
Jacob said a factor that will determine if the City of Oklahoma City can be held civilly liable is if there is a policy practice or training that was a moving force that caused Gibson to act in the way that he did. He said he does recognize the fact that officers within the city's police department noted the amount of force Gibson used was excessive.
News 4 reached out to Drummond's office for comment and received the following statement:
While the Attorney General has dropped the unwarranted criminal charges, his previous statement clearly noted there is an ongoing internal investigation that may result in non-criminal forms of accountability. Those decisions ultimately will be made by the Oklahoma City Police Department leaders and their superiors.
Spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond's office
News 4 employees sat down with Thuan Nguyen Tuesday, President-Elect of the Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma, to share his thoughts.
He's been in regular contact with Vu's family and part of ongoing community-led efforts to rebuild the local Vietnamese community's relationship with law enforcement after the incident with Vu.
"That's ultimately what everyone's goal is, is to make sure our community is safe," said Nguyen.
Nguyen said he and other community members and leaders met with local Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Nelson and Oklahoma City Police Chief Ron Bacy Tuesday. He says those conversations included asking them both hard questions about the incident with Vu and discussing ways to make sure something like it doesn't happen again.
"We were able to express a lot of our concerns and voice our concerns, and our hurt and our anger," said Nguyen.
Nguyen said questions included conversations about how much longer the internal investigation into Gibson could take, and while he didn't nail down a definitive timeline with either Nelson or Bacy, he encouraged the community's patience.
"We have to let the due process occur," said Nguyen.
He said the local Vietnamese community is discouraging protests or rallies, opting for conversations with those in charge instead. Nguyen said other highlights from the conversations included suggestions to take harder looks at officer training, cultural competency, and the distribution of translated pamphlets to ensure citizen interaction with officers doesn't escalate dramatically due to language barriers.
"I think it's a process in the right direction," said Nguyen.
Nguyen said the Vu family does have the community's support when it comes to any legal action that they take, adding that Vu deserves justice.
"There has to be a process of disciplinary actions that has to occur for the wrongdoings that has occurred," said Nguyen.
FOP President Mark Nelson has publicly backed Gibson and his response to the incident, and while not addressing that in a statement to News 4 Tuesday, he did say that the conversation was productive. That statement is included below:
Earlier today, the OKC FOP met with members of Mr. Vu’s family and leaders in the Vietnamese and Asian communities. We had a very productive conversation about policing and culture and how we interact. It was a good meeting, and we look forward to working together.
Mark Nelson, President of The Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police
News 4 also reached out to former Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter Tuesday for comment on Jacob's announcement since he's part of Gibson's legal team.
"Everybody's entitled to their day in court," said Hunter. "I know this, my client did not commit a crime in connection with the incident, the traffic incident involving Mr. Vu."
Hunter said what happened during the traffic stop was certainly regrettable, and the incident was unfortunate, but Gibson did what he needed to do in that case. He also says he's confident that once that law is made clear, whether it's a judge or jury, in federal or state court, he believes there's going to be recognition that Gibson followed his training.
"I regret that this has turned into a national issue," said Gibson. "I don't think that it deserves to be a national issue; and that's hard for any individual new to this environment to handle."
Jacob said that he anticipates the lawsuit will be filed in the next 30 days and that he hopes to speak with Oklahoma City leaders and do more investigating before that takes place.