The release of dashcam video from a brutal June 2015 arrest, and footage from a subsequent conversation in which the arresting officer's partner stereotypes Black people as violent, has drawn heavy criticism since making national news on Thursday [July 21]. In the recording, Breaion King, a 26-year-old Austin school teacher, is yanked around and slammed by officer Bryan Richter as he forces her into cuffs after she was stopped for allegedly speeding. Both Richter and officer Patrick Spradlin, who later made the racist remarks, have been taken off of patrol while the Austin Police Department conducts a probe into the incident.
“After reviewing both videos, I and our leadership team were highly disturbed and disappointed in both the way Ms. King was approached and handled and in the mindset that we saw on display in those videos,” Police Chief Art Acevedo told local media. “But there is another piece, which has caused concerns as to our review process and the systems we have in place.” That other "piece" has to do with the integrity of Richter's supervisors, and why they handed down the lowest disciplinary measures [counseling and training], after prosecutors cleared King of resisting arrest charges. Both a criminal investigation and an administrative review are in motion around the incident. King did ultimately pay a $165 ticket for going 50 mph in a 35 mph zone.
The dispute that led to the 115 pound Black woman being manhandled, began when Richter pulled up behind her as she parked at a rest stop. Before King could get far from leaving her vehicle, Richter asked her to get back into the car, informing her that she was being pulled over for speeding. King questions why she is being stopped if she is already parked, but Richter sounds to have called her bluff, insisting that she knew why she was being pulled over, before pressing her to get all the way back in her vehicle so that he could close her door and ensue with the process of writing her up. After King urges the officer to hurry up and get the matter over with, Richter loses his cool, grabbing her by the arm and beginning to wrestle her out of the car, eventually slamming her to the concrete and twisting her arms into several positions as she cried out in disbelief.
A second recording captures a conversation King had with supporting officer, Spradlin, as she sit cuffed in the back seat. “I can give you a really good idea why it might be that way: violent tendencies," the officer responds, when King poses to be curious to know why cops fear Black people. "That’s why a lot of the white people are afraid, and I don’t blame them. 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."
King is said to be meeting with lawyers about possibly filing a lawsuit.
Source: nydailynews.com
