JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The trial for a former Jacksonville corrections' officer facing charges for misdemeanor battery on a pregnant woman starts this week.
Back in 2018, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrested and fired Officer Catherine Thompson for reportedly punching and slamming a pregnant woman into a concrete wall while in custody.
Thompson also faces a falsifying official documents charge for trying to cover up the attack that happened in a room with no surveillance cameras.
Kirenda Welch, 36, was the alleged victim of the crime.
Welch told First Coast News that she had been leaving basketball practice with her two young kids when one child got out of their seat restraint--she made an illegal U-turn to get to a gas station parking lot. The officer followed her onto the lot.
"He jumped out of the car with his gun drawn, I put my hands up and told my son to show him his hands," Welch said. "I had my hands outside the window [asking] 'Please don't shoot sir' and I told my son everything is going to be alright."
She said she did not know her driver's license had been suspended. The mark on her file made imprisonment an option.
She believes the suspended license stemmed from an unpaid toll ticket.
Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump has said in the past that he wants the case to be prosecuted as a hate crime.
"Before and during this outrageous attack on this citizen, there were racial slurs being used and hurled at her indicating what was the mentality of this officer as she assaulted and battered this 36-year-old college educated black woman (Kirenda Welch)," Crump previously told First Coast News.
Crump said Welch was shackled in four-point restraints and was beaten by the officer. He also said several officers were present during the altercation, but didn't do anything to intervene.