Austin police apologize after video shows black woman's violent arrest

• Breaion King dragged and thrown to ground after traffic stop escalated
• Officer told her ‘people’ fear of black people’s ‘violent tendencies

Tom Dart in Houston and agencies
Friday 22 July 2016 18.51 BST

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Later, handcuffed in the back of a vehicle as she is driven to jail, King has a conversation about racism with another white officer, Patrick Spradlin.

“Let me ask you this, why are so many people afraid of black people?” he asks. “I can give you a really good idea of why it might be that way: violent tendencies.”

He continues: “I’m not saying anything, I’m not saying it’s true, I’m not saying that I can prove it or nothing, but 99% of the time, when you hear about something like that, it is the black community that’s being violent. That’s why a lot of the white people are afraid and I don’t blame them. Some of them because of their appearance and whatnot, some of them are very intimidating.”

Video of the June 2015 encounter was published on Thursday by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE local news, amid a heightened nationwide climate of concern and anger about aggressive and sometimes lethal interactions between police and African Americans. Fatal shootings by officers in Baton Rouge and St Paul in recent weeks were followed by murderous attacks on police in the Louisiana city and Dallas.

Art Acevedo, the Austin police chief, apologised to King on Thursday and pledged thorough investigations. At a news conference he said both officers had been placed on desk duty, that he was not aware of the video until this week and that King did not file a complaint. Her resisting arrest charge was dismissed in January.

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