The Austin Texas police chief says what he heard from one of his officers, during a conversation with a black woman who was body slammed and placed under arrest for driving too slow will “not be tolerated”.
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It is another in a series of incidents caught on video that have raised questions about racial bias in American policing.
Breaion King, 26, was reportedly speeding on a street in Austin, Texas, when she passed police officer Bryan Richter, who was seated in his patrol vehicle using his radar gun. The officer reported that he had asked King for her driver’s license when she wondered whether she was liable to get a ticket if the vehicle was already parked. While King was being transported to jail on a charge of resisting arrest, she spoke with Officer Patrick Spradlin about relations between officers and the black community.
The officer expounded further, stating that he doesn’t “blame white people” for their fear, because he seems to think it’s justified because of “violence”, as well as the appearance, of black people.
Acevedo issued an apology to King and her family in a press conference Thursday, but the chief says this is a problem that requires more than just making amends. According to the Statesman, Officer Richter was ordered to receive additional training and counseling after the incident.
King, who suffered minor scrapes and bruises from the incident, was charged with resisting arrest, but the case was dismissed after the Travis County district attorney saw the dash cam footage.
But as the encounter escalated, the footage shows Richter reaching inside the auto and grabbing hold of King. King was seemingly unaware of the police, however, and pulled into a parking lot before coming to a complete stop. “I’m going to continue to work to prop up this profession because there is still that false narrative that policing is absolutely out of control and broken when it isn’t”. “So for me I feel that we are starting to take the necessary steps in order for us to be able to come together as a community and as a nation”, King said. He went on to say the United States has problems with “bias”, “racism” and “issues of people being looked at different due to their color”.
He wrote that he then tried to get control of her arms.
The Dallas Police Department says job applications to the force have more than quadrupled since a sniper shot and killed five police officers and wounded nine others and two civilians. Her attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment. “It’s what I believe; I don’t think it would’ve escalated the way it did had she been white”. When she doesn’t get out, the video shows the officer trying to get the woman out of the auto and him telling her to “stop resisting”. In his report, he said he clocked her going 50 miles per hour in a 35 miles per hour zone.
“I can give you a really good idea why it might be that way. I’ve become afraid of the people who are supposed to protect me and take care of me”.
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Reports say the reason why the footage is only being released now is that King never filed a complaint. The suspect said he wanted to kill police officers, especially white ones, according to Brown. He says aside from the rough arrest, it’s the comments that made this most uncomfortable.
