The June 15 incident involving Breaion King and two police officers happened during a traffic stop.
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Police Dashcam Video Shows Violent Arrest Of Austin School Teacher Breaion King. Officer Bryan Richter gives King a command to close her vehicle door, and seven seconds later is shown on dash camera video forcibly removing her from the driver’s seat, pulling her across a vacant parking spot and throwing her to the ground. While in the back of Officer Patrick Spradlin’s auto, video recorded a conversation between the two in which Officer Spradlin said whites may be concerned about blacks because of quote “violent tendencies”.
Footage of the violent assault has sparked further outrage over police violence in the US.Ms King has since received an apology from police. One of King’s attorney’s, Erica Griggs, stated that her client was scared and ashamed of the events, which is why it took a while for her to muster up the courage to come forth.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters Thursday he was sorry for what happened to King after Officer Bryan Richter approached her in a Wendy’s parking lot to write her a ticket for going 50 miles per hour where the speed limit is 35.
The officer took the second-grade teacher to the ground.
“That’s why a lot of the white people are afraid of them, and I don’t blame them”, Spradlin says, adding that “some” black people, “because of their appearance and whatnot, some of them are very intimidating”. In a speech after Castile’s death, President Obama told the nation that police shootings of black people in America are “not isolated incidents” but are “symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities in our criminal justice system”. While on her way to jail, another Austin Police officer talked about fear of African-Americans.
“Oh my god, said King”.
Many have asked why King took more than a year to come forward with her case.
“99 percent of the time when you hear about stuff like that”, says Spradlin, “it is the black community that’s being violent”.
A video of the incident from the dashcam of the officer was released Thursday by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV in Austin.
Richter orders King to put her hands behind her back while the two struggle on the ground.
It is only a few moments into the traffic stop when Richter is heard in the video ordering King to “stop resisting” as he orders her out of the vehicle.
“Officer Spradlin’s comments were wrong and not reflective of the values and beliefs of the men and women who serve this community”. That’s why a lot of white people are afraid. “I want you to listen to that conversation and tell me that we don’t have social issues in this nation, issues of violence, issues of racism, issues of people being looked at differently due to their color”.
He also said he wants investigators to look at resisting arrest complaints, public intoxication arrests and other detentions that require monitoring to prevent abuse. “What is it I need to do, what do we need to do as a community to make sure that we change these things in a positive way”, King told KXAN.
Acevedo said the investigation of the officers will include their conduct in the year since the incident. King is heard asking the police officers if they still believed in racism. The Travis County District Attorney’s Office also did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for additional information and comment.
“We recognize how incidents such as these can divide our city and cause mistrust”, the statement said.
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Now she hopes her story and video will speak for themselves and help change what she says is happening in our country.
