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cpd officer just knocked a homeless man unconscious outside cville city hall
mere hours into chief pleasants’ tenure. blood on the bricks right outside charlottesville city hall 
still waiting on any kind of statement from @CvilleCityHall. if only an acknowledgement that it happened and an update on his condition. something. just tell me if he's going to be ok. tell me i didn't witness a murder.
this statement, posted by outgoing councilwoman szakos as a comment on my facebook post, is nearly exactly the text from the daily progress article that was published over 5 hours before. this tells me nothing.
i did learn early this afternoon that the man had been released from the hospital. i spent this evening talking to folks downtown -- on the mall, in the park, outside the haven -- trying to figure out if anyone knew the man i at that time knew only as gerald.
oddly, very few of the folks i talked to knew gerald. one man i met outside the haven said he was in the ER last night, as well, and saw gerald there. he says gerald was conscious (and very upset) at that time.
i was told that he sometimes sleeps at the haven, but he wasn't there when i checked this evening. he wasn't in the park or on the mall or behind lucky 7. according to the district court information system, he is not being held on the disorderly conduct charge.
i realize he's a grown man. i don't want this to come off as some savior complex bullshit. but he hit his head hard. well, officer bradley harvey hit his head. the idea of him sleeping outside, alone, with nobody to keep an eye on what is likely a serious concussion worries me.
gerald jackson is set to appear in district court 12/21 at 10am. i hope to see him alive in well in court. and i hope judge downer is aware enough of current events to have heard about this brutal assault by officer harvey.
when i was walking around downtown tonight, talking to any homeless person who'd talk to me, many of them had not heard about what happened. but none of them were surprised. upon hearing about pleasants' promotion to acting chief, on man closed his eyes and shook his head.
this will get worse under pleasants' watch. every marginalized community in this city already knows what he is. the rest of us just need some time to catch up. he's an angry, dangerous fascist. his delight in gassing folks on J8 just scratches the surface.
