'Violent tendencies': Texas officer brutally arrests female African-American school teacher (VIDEOS)
Video footage has emerged showing a Texas police officer violently throwing an African-American woman on the ground, and a second officer telling her that whites are afraid of black people because they have “violent tendencies” and are “intimidating.”
The incident, which dates back to June 2015, began when Austin police officer Bryan Richter pulled over elementary school teacher Breaion King for speeding. Richter then tells King – who had her car door open – to put her feet in the vehicle so he could close the door.
When King refuses and says to Richter, “Would you please hurry up?” the officer loses his temper and begins to drag King out of the car.
King then shouts, “No! Why are you touching me? Oh my God!” while Richter says, “Stop resisting!”
Once Richter has removed King from the car, he violently throws her to the ground and orders her to put her hands behind her back. He then says, “I'm about to tase you.”
When King manages to stand up, the officer body-slams her to the ground once more.
Another officer, Patrick Spradlin, eventually arrives and the two put King into a police car.
In the second video, King is seen telling the officers that she believes racism goes both ways but that people are “afraid of black people.”
In response, Spradlin says: “Let me ask you this – why are people, so many people, afraid of black people?”
King replies by saying: “That's what I want to figure out, because I'm not a bad black person.”
The officer then says he has a “really good idea” why people are afraid of African Americans – because they have “violent tendencies.”
“I'm not saying that I can prove it or nothing, but 99 percent of the time when you hear about stuff like that, it is the black community that's being violent,” Spradlin says.
“That's why a lot of the white people are afraid of them, and I don't blame them,” he continues, adding that “some of them, because of their appearance and whatnot, some of them are very intimidating.”
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo has condemned the actions of both officers, calling the videos “disturbing.” He said a criminal investigation has been opened against Richter.
“There’s a way to do this job, and that day we did not approach it anywhere near where we should have approached it,” Acevedo said during a Thursday press conference.
The police chief said he was unaware of the June 2015 incident until it was published by the Austin American-Statesman this week, and that King did not make any sort of complaint.
Both officers have been placed on desk duty pending new internal investigations, which will include both officers' conduct in the year since the incident.
Acevedo has apologized to King, who told the Austin American-Statesman that the incident has made her “fearful to live my life.”
“I would rather stay home. I've become afraid of the people who are supposed to protect me and take care of me.”
The videos come as the 'Black Lives Matter' campaign continues across the US, with activists staging demonstrations against the law enforcement's treatment of African Americans. On Thursday, an unarmed behavioral therapist was shot in the leg despite lying on the ground with his hands in the air, prompting further outcry.
