But it’s the conversation captured on video between King and Austin Police Officer Patrick Spradlin following the arrest, that’s perhaps even more powerful.
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Officials in Austin are investigating the violent arrest of a black elementary school teacher who was body-slammed by a white police officer during a traffic stop. In the auto, Spradlin and King engaged in a conversation where he openly said that white people don’t want to interact with Black people because Black people have “violent tendencies”.
King gets out of her vehicle and heads toward the restaurant but stops when Richter asks her to get back in her auto. During the briefing, he apologized personally to the schoolteacher and repudiated the racially insensitive comments made by the other officer. She is leaning forward to talk to an officer in a front seat. In Bland’s case, the encounter escalated when she asked one question: “Why do I have to put out my cigarette?”
King said it is a citizen’s duty to speak out about injustice to set an example for the 2nd Graders she teaches.
“Oh my god, said King”.
“I’m about to tase you”, Richter says. The department is working on a better plan to track arrests, particularly cases of resisting arrest and offenses such as public intoxication, just to ensure officers are acting appropriately. Acevedo quickly removed both officers from street patrol, and both are now facing new internal investigations, which he said will include both officers’ conduct in the year since the incident.
Reportedly, King refused, and Richter pulled her out of the vehicle and slammed her on the concrete. [Image credit: YouTube]King says that the arresting officer did not give her an opportunity to respond to his initial commands. “Violent tendencies … Some of them, due to their appearance and whatnot, some of them are very intimidating”.
I’m sorry that in the day you were stopped for going 15 miles per hour, you were… treated in a manner that is not consistent with the expectations of this police chief, of most of the officers of this department, and most importantly, of all of us as human beings.
“If something is wrong, everyone needs to be held accountable”, King said.
The new footage of King’s arrest comes as relations between black communities and police departments remain tense, following the shooting deaths of black men Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police officers, and the massacre of five law enforcement officers in Dallas, Texas. Our Stef Manisero shows us why it’s a second, more peaceful video that’s adding fuel to the controversy.
Richter said in the report that he did not know if King had a weapon in her auto, and that she wrapped “her hands and arms around the steering wheel”.
“There is something else I wanted to make you of aware of”, the county attorney said, referencing Spradlin’s comment caught on tape. An investigation into the incident, first reported by the Austin American-Statesman, has also been initiated.
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As of now, Richter has only had to undergo counseling and training, while Spradlin was not punished for his comments since video has not been available until recently.
