JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The trial began Tuesday for a former Jacksonville Sheriff's Office corrections officer accused of beating a pregnant woman while she was in custody.
Catherine Thompson is facing charges from June 2018 when she allegedly punched Kirenda Welch multiple times. Welch was arrested after making an illegal U-turn. She had a suspended license, which she says she did not know about.
While in custody, Welch was upset and cussing at officers. Thompson allegedly punched Welch in the face, then multiple times on the ground while Welch was shackled in four-point restraints.
Welch was the first witness to testify in court, and other witnesses who will testify are officers who were there at the time of the incident.
Thompson was immediately fired after the alleged incident and is also accused of lying about it. She is facing one count of official misconduct and one count of battery. Her plea is not guilty.
At the start of the trial, one juror was excused because he and a witness knew each other from a previous job.
In 2018, Welch's attorney, civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, requested the State Attorney and Department of Justice investigate the case as a hate crime, saying that before and during the beating, 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."