Lawyer Stunned By Not-Guilty Finding In Dunbar Viral Video
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The lawyer representing the family of a Dunbar High School student seen in a viral video being pushed down the stairs by a school security guard and then hit in the face says he's shocked by the guard's acquittal.
'Slam Dunk' Case, Anything But That
Mark Sutter seemed to think this case was a slam-dunk for the prosecutors who tried school security guard Preston Dixon for battery.
"As a lawyer," he said, "I'm shocked and disgusted and as a father I am appalled."
"It's completely atypical," he says of the not guilty finding by Judge Peggy Chiampas. "Frankly I'm shocked."
In the cellphone video, Dixon is seen pushing the then-16-year-old girl down a flight of stairs.
As she's lying on the ground, he punches her in the face.
Chiampas, Sutter said, found fault with the alleged victim's testimony.
But Sutter said the videotape was compelling evidence.
"You know they say a picture speaks a thousand words, then what does a videotape speak?"
"I don't know," he said. "I'm completely shocked by the outcome."
The girl's mother, Pershaun Goodlow, said: "I was totally devastated watching that video over and over and over again. I was devastated that someone would find this guy to be not guilty."
The family still has a civil suit.
