A patrol car video from a June 2015 incident showing a Black elementary teacher in Austin violently arrested by a white police officer during a traffic stop has caused a stir across social media.
Shaun King, a Senior Justice Writer at the New York Daily News, and also a Morehouse College alum, tweeted last night that 26-year-old Breaion King (no relation) is a “wonderful 2nd grade teacher” and “was assaulted by the police for no reason whatsoever.” According to her LinkedIn account, King is a graduate of HBCU Huston-Tillotson University in Austin.
This woman is a wonderful 2nd grade teacher who was assaulted by the police for no reason whatsoever. https://t.co/fXsMULQWPM
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) July 22, 2016
King was pulled over by Officer Bryan Richter for going 15 mph over the speed limit.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, who originally published the video Thursday, after the brutal arrest King requested to be transported by a different police officer citing that she did not trust Officer Richter.
She was then transported to the police station by Officer Patrick Spradlin.
In another video, Officer Spradlin, white, is heard telling King that black people have “violent tendencies” and says “I don’t blame” white people for being afraid, alluding that many people in the black community are violent.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, when you hear about stuff like that, it is the black community that is being violent. That’s why a lot of the white people are afraid, and I don’t blame them,” said Spradlin to King, who sat in the back of the police car.
He continued on about ‘dealing’ with black people as an officer.
“There are some guys I look at, and I know it is my job to deal with them, and I know it might go ugly, but that’s the way it goes. But yeah, some of them, because of their appearance and whatnot, some of them are very intimidating.”
According to the Associated Press, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, who is Hispanic, said that the actions of both officers were wrong and called the officer’s comments on the video “disturbing,” also telling King that he is sorry.
Fatima Mann, an activist with the Austin Justice Coalition, said, “If that was a white woman, would he have yanked her out … and slammed her on the ground? Most of us could say absolutely not.”
“But for reason,” she added, “for some strange reason, when people look like me, we’re more of a threat, and that means we get treated and thrown around as if we don’t matter.”
