Texas police has released a video showing U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson being taken to the ground by officers during an altercation at a rodeo. (Aug. 15)
DALLAS (AP) — Police video released Monday shows U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas being taken to the ground by officers, profanely berating them and threatening to report them to the governor during an altercation at a rodeo last month.
In body camera video, the former White House physician can be seen approaching a group of people surrounding a 15-year-old girl who authorities have said was having seizures. The two-term Republican congressman later has what looks like an argument with one of the people attending to the teenager before she is put on a stretcher.
Shortly afterward, Jackson is wrestled to the ground by at least two officers. The 31-minute video, which has sound in only some portions, shows officers turning Jackson facedown and putting him in handcuffs before helping him to his feet.
“I’m going to call the governor tomorrow and I’m going to talk to him about this (expletive), because this is (expletive) ridiculous,” Jackson can later be heard telling a state trooper, his voice raised.
This image provided by the Meriden, Conn., Police Department shows a kitten that was found in a stolen car that police were examining for evidence, and now they are looking for his owner. The gray-and-white male cat was perched under a seat in the stolen vehicle, which collided with a police car during a chase Thursday, Aug. 10, the Meriden Police Department said on its Facebook page Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. (Meriden Police Department via AP)
This undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Portland Field Office shows a makeshift cinderblock cell in Klamath Falls, Ore. allegedly used by 29-year-old, Negasi Zuberi. A federal judge has set an Oct. 17 trial date for the Oregon man accused of posing as an undercover police officer, kidnapping a woman in Seattle and locking her in the cell until she bloodied her hands breaking the door to escape. Zuberi made his initial appearance in federal court in Medford on Monday, Aug. 14 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke. (FBI via AP)
A Malaysia Airlines plane is parked at Sydney International Airport, in Sydney, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. A 45-year-old man was charged on Tuesday with allegedly threatening to blow up a plane during a flight from Australia to Malaysia that returned Sydney.(Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)
State police released the video footage days after Jackson defended his actions in a post on social media. Kate Lair, a spokesperson for Jackson, reiterated the congressman’s comments in a statement Monday in which she said he was prevented from providing medical care to the teenager due to “overly aggressive and incompetent actions” by officers.
“Congressman Jackson, as a trained ER physician, will not apologize for sparing no effort to help in a medical emergency, especially when the circumstances were chaotic and the local authorities refused to help the situation,” Lair said. Chris and Jodi Jordan said they were at the rodeo in White Deer, a small town outside the Panhandle city of Amarillo, and witnessed some of what happened. They said Jackson was trying to help the girl before medics arrived and that the deputies were needlessly rough in pulling him away.
“We were just appalled,” said Chris Jordan, 48, of Hereford. “The slamming to the ground I didn’t understand whatsoever.”
The Jordans said that after the incident they discussed talking to news reporters about what they had seen with an aide to Jackson. The congressman’s office referred The Associated Press to the couple.
