Or at the very least, cops who are straight up scared of black people.
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Dash cam footage from the June 2015 arrest of a black elementary school teacher in Austin was released this week, and it paints a deeply disturbing picture of the day’s events.
A black woman violently thrown to the ground by a white Austin, Texas, police officer during a traffic stop for speeding says she is grateful the city’s police chief has apologized.
“My heart was sickened and saddened when I first learned of this incident”, said Acevedo.
Spradlin goes on to say that “I don’t blame” white people for being afraid because of violence in the black community.
“You were approached in a manner and treated in a manner that is not consistent with the expectations of this police chief, of most of the officers of this police department, and most importantly, I think, of all of us as human beings”, said Chief Acevedo. The newspaper published the videos Thursday.
King, 26, was pulled over on June 15, 2015, for driving 15 miles over the speed limit.
Breaion King, 26, opened her auto door in a parking lot on June 15, 2015, but was immediately told to get back inside. Dash camera video shows the stop happened around 12:30 p.m.
Richter asks King to put her feet back in the auto so he can close the door.
A second video shows King sitting in the backseat of the patrol auto talking to Richter and Officer Patrick Spradlin, who had joined his colleague at the scene. King screamed. “Oh my God!”
“No, why are you touching me?” He keeps telling her to put her hands behind her back and once they are, she stands and he kicks at her shin then throws her to the ground again.
Although it appears that progress will soon be made when it comes to this case, King still feels extremely emotional and fears that this will forever change the way she views police officers. “I’ve become afraid of the people who are supposed to protect me and take care of me”. “There is something else I wanted to make you of aware of”, the county attorney said, referencing Spradlin’s comment caught on tape.
“That’s what I want to figure out because I’m not a bad black person”, King says.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, when you hear about stuff like that, it is the black community that is being violent”, Officer Spradlin can be heard saying.
Breaion King, a 26 year old African-American woman, was driving on an Austin street in June 2015 when she sped past Richter, who was sitting in his patrol vehicle using his radar gun.
A camera recording inside the patrol vehicle also caught an officer inferring to king that African Americans have “violent tendencies” and some of them look “intimidating”. The conversation is a back-and-forth discussion, and calm. I’m not saying it’s true. Both officers were immediately removed from duty and are undergoing administrative reviews.
Chief Acevedo said in addition to the investigations into the officers’ conduct, he wants to know why he never heard about the incidents until recently.
Police commanders looked into the incident after it happened and ordered the officer receive more training and counseling, the chief said.
The release of the video comes as cities across the USA are on edge following high-profile police shootings of black men by police in Baton Rouge, La., and Minneapolis and fatal ambushes of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.
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You can read the rest of this story at NBC News.
