SALISBURY, N.C.,None — It's been more than three months since video of a brawl at Club La Bamba in Salisbury surfaced. In the middle of the melee is Salisbury police officer Kareem Puranda. He's shown on the video pushing a woman down and putting his hands around her neck. The footage also shows Puranda punching another man at the club.
Officer Puranda is still on the job, on administrative duty while the incident is under investigation.
But that's not enough for civil rights activist John Barnette and some residents of Salisbury who gathered for a meeting Thursday night at the Trinity Presbyterian Church.
"We felt the need to move forward with a petition. We see they are playing a waiting game and a lot of times people want to see immediate change," Barnette said.
The petition asks for the termination of Officer Puranda and a second officer Barnette said he's received several complaints about from residents. Barnette is hoping to get at least 500 signatures by the end of January.
"If 500 people say something is wrong, there's no mass hallucination going on and something has obviously been going on," Barnette said.
The State Bureau of Investigation is also digging into the situation. Barnette plans to meet with state investigators next week. He said he's taking a folder full of complaints with him.
Resident Otis West supports Barnette's efforts and the petition and hopes his neighbors follow suit.
"The people need to come out because when we come out in numbers we can make things happen," West said.
Barnette plans to collect the signed petitions on Feb. 1. Then he plans to mail copies of the signed petitions to every leader in the city of Salisbury.
WSOC
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