Reported by Yolanda Spivey

In June, 2013, Your Black World reported on a young honor student by the name of Gabriella Calhoun who was beaten unconscious by members of the Bloomington, IL police department. After knocking out her front teeth, and further embarrassing the then 17 year old by walking her across a crowded parking lot with her breast exposed, they indicted her on 2 charges—aggravated battery to a peace officer and resisting a peace officer with injury to the officer. Each charge was a felony count which could’ve sent the promising college student to prison.

After a two year wait and careful deliberation, a jury of 9 woman and 3 men found Gabriella not guilty on all charges.

In an exclusive interview with Your Black World, Montana Calhoun, the mother of Gabriella told us that she is just happy that the trial is finally over.

“Gabriella is just relieved that this over and she is feeling blessed. She wants to get back to school and get her degree.”

Montana said that throughout the trial her daughter handled herself very well.

Gabriella told Your Black World that she felt “confident” although she was scared and sad at the same time. She said, “I felt confident because at heart I knew I was innocent this whole time. I began to feel scared when the prosecution would twist the words from my audio recording to make it sound bad and believable.”

The now 19 year old further stated, “I was also sad that the police officers of Bloomington had the audacity to go on stands under oath and lie about what happened. It hurt to see that there are officers out there that don’t even want young African Americans to progress in life. And by this statement I mean, they knew I was 19 and if I was to be found guilty I could of went to prison.”

During the case, race became a factor after it was revealed that one of the sergeants on the police force, Ed Shumaker, reportedly told another officer that, he hoped a black stabbing victim “F*ing bleeds to death.” He was since disciplined by police chief Brendan Heffner, who said that the department was “disturbed and deeply saddened by the officer’s remarks.”

Shumaker’s voice was heard on tape making those disturbing comments and was played for the judge during Gabriella’s trial. He is still currently on the police force.

Montana also pointed out that the prosecutor continuously tried to paint her daughter as an “angry black teen who was trying to fight a police officer.”

“They had a negative stereotypical view of her,” Montana said. “Gabriella told the truth and just wanted to get her story out so that everyone could understand her point of view.”

The family wanted to also point out the blatant racism that existed during jury selection. Out of all thirty-eight juror’s who was interviewed to sit on the jury, only one of them was Black—a woman. During questioning to see if the juror’s were a good fit, the black woman was immediately dismissed when she disclosed that her students told her about Gabriella’s case. When a white potential juror disclosed that he knew the police chief and other police staff, they kept him after he expressed that he could be fair and partial.

The jury who found Gabriella not guilty were all white.

Gabriella told Your Black World, “When the judge read the jury’s verdict the first thing I said was thank you Jesus. I didn’t show any emotion until after the second verdict was read. I smiled at the jury and said thank you. Hugging my family and seeing them cry tears of joy touched my heart because I know they believed in me since day one.”

Gabriella, who continues to get straight A’s in college, stressed that this journey has been a long “traumatizing” one for her. She plans to graduate from Wiley College next Summer and attend dental school afterwards. Her plan for the future is to become an oral surgeon.

She also plans to write a documentary on her case and encourage people all around the world about what goes on in other parts of the world as it relates to police brutality. She said that she is “lucky to have survived” her ordeal.

Montana wanted to thank us at Your Black World and others who has been instrumental in helping her daughter and supporting the family in their time of need.

“I just want to thank God first, Dr. Boyce Watkins for taking our story and Yolanda Spivey for writing our story. I would also like to thank Christa Noel from Women’s All Point Bulletin (WAPB) who have supported us during the trial, and also our attorney Steve Skelton.”

In recent years, the United States have personally witnessed stories of many men and women who died at the hands of law enforcement. Gabriella was fortunate to have survived her ordeal.

Montana Calhoun states that she is hoping that her daughter’s case would break the mold and change the way law enforcement figures handle police brutality and death cases.

“My empathy and sympathy goes out to all the mothers who have to endure what we have endured. It seems like this (police brutality) is increasingly becoming an everyday occurrence.”

Yolanda Spivey writes on a variety of topics and is the founder of Black Insurance News. She can be reached at organize@yourblackworld.net or you can visit her Facebook page.