NORFOLK, Va. — In court on Monday, an attorney representing Ebony Holmes showed police body-camera video of a traffic stop involving Holmes, her friends and officers with the Norfolk Police Department.
Holmes is claiming that in July 2021, a Norfolk Police officer hit her during the stop.
“It’s just hard for me to come and look at it, and hearing from him brush it off like it’s nothing,” Holmes said.
Holmes currently faces charges of reckless driving and obstruction of justice from this traffic stop, but her attorney is trying to get the charges dismissed. Both are misdemeanor charges.
Amina Matheny-Willard said the police officer didn’t follow Virginia’s statutes and arrested Holmes instead of giving her a summons, which she said is against the law. She also said the officer did not deescalate the situation.
“We should not be here," Matheny-Willard said. "These charges should be dismissed just based on everything she went through and the things he did."
In court Monday, the police officer told a judge Holmes assaulted him by pushing her car door open and hitting him. While interviewing Holmes outside of court, she said she followed his orders and got out of the car.
"When she opened the car to get out that’s when he got more angry and it went downhill from there," Matheny-Willard said.
The police officer said his actions weren’t perfect during this traffic stop. He said he is a special operations team member for NPD and was working an anti-crime role, and was tasked with providing visibility in a high crime area after several shootings near that location.
He said when he stopped Holmes, six people were in a five-person vehicle and one of them had a gun.
Matheny-Willard said the gun was legal and registered to a person in the car.
He also said they were going almost 100 mph in a 35 mph zone, which Holmes said isn't true.
The officer also said he asked for everyone’s ID, and said that was deemed reasonable.
Matheny-Willard said the officer tried pressing a felony assault charge against Holmes after the traffic stop.
"They talked to her and him and asked what happened, so kudos to the magistrate who didn’t do that," she said.
A judge continued the case and will soon decide whether to dismiss the charges. The next court date for the pre-trial motions is scheduled for April 25, 2022.
“If he denies my motion, I am going to appeal to the court of appeals and then we will come back down here and that will be the trial. So, still a ways to go,” explained Matheny-Willard.
Holmes, Matheny-Willard and civil rights advocates are calling for Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone to fire the police officer. They also want the officer decertified.
13News Now reached out to Norfolk Police Department leaders for a comment, and are waiting to hear back.