Texas Police Chief Under Investigation for Arresting Black Pageant Winner and Allegedly Calling Her
Last edited Fri May 26, 2017, 10:24 PM - Edit history (1)
Texas Police Chief Under Investigation for Arresting Black Pageant Winner and Allegedly Calling Her ‘Black Bitch’
The City of Commerce is doubling down on its suggestion that Commerce Police Chief Kerry Crews was not the man who referred to Carmen Ponder as a “black bitch,” though still not denying that Crews was present as one of his police officers physically assaulted her and ultimately arrested her for refusing to be subjugated by Crews.
Why Crews and the responding police officers would expect Ponder to apologize to Crews after she was followed and verbally attacked by a white man remains unclear.
Ponder released the following statement to The Root via her attorneys:
excerpt:
Carmen S. Ponder was verbally assaulted and harassed by a motorist in a Wal-Mart parking lot located in Commerce, Texas. The motorist was upset that Ms. Ponder passed his vehicle which was being operated by his fourteen year old daughter. When Ms. Ponder refused to apologize to the motorist, or acknowledge his verbal tirade beyond stating “it’s illegal” to allow a fourteen year old to operate a motor vehicle on a public highway, the motorist became even more upset and began directing racial slurs at Ms. Ponder. Without engaging her assailant any further, Ms. Ponder entered the Wal-Mart facility.
At the time she was accosted Ms. Ponder did not know who the man was that was attacking her. However, upon exiting the Wal-Mart, Ms. Ponder was approached by a plain clothes officer that flashed a badge and pointed to a man standing nearby stating “that is my chief and you’d better go apologize to him!”
Ms. Ponder understood the demand to mean that the man that had verbally attacked her in the parking lot earlier was Chief of Police Kerry Crews who then demanded an apology. Ms. Ponder did not understand the statement from the plain clothes officer to be a lawful command or any form of arrest or detention. She was not willing to apologize and attempted to continue to her vehicle when she was grabbed by the officer and pulled back toward the Wal-Mart entrance with enough force to cause bruising to her arms. Ms. Ponder immediately called 9-1-1 using her cell phone. When a uniformed officer arrived, he took a statement from the plain clothes officer and promptly placed Ms. Ponder in handcuffs. She was placed in the back of a police vehicle and taken to the local jail where she was later informed she was being charged with evading arrest or detention and held overnight.
Since the incident, the City of Commerce has issued a statement that Chief Crews was not the motorist that verbally assaulted Ms. Ponder. In a press release, the City suggested instead that Chief Crews became involved in the incident after being approached by one of the parties. Media sources have suggested the motorist was in fact Michael Beane, a school board member for the City. While Ms. Ponder acknowledges that it is possible that Crews was not the man from the initial verbal assault, the actions of Commerce Police Department in responding to the incident represent clear abuse of authority and violations of Ms. Ponder’s civil rights.
Commerce PD officers immediately sided with the white motorist that referred to Ms. Ponder as a “black bitch” and used the authority entrusted to their office to further the intimidation and harassment begun by the errant motorist. When Ms. Ponder declined to submit to the demeaning command that she apologize to her assailant, Ms. Ponder was brutalized and arrested by members of the Commerce Police Department and assigned a fraudulent criminal charge. The City has acknowledged that this took place in the presence and under the supervision of Police Chief Kerry Crews.
On behalf of Ms. Ponder we renew our demand that the false charges against her be dropped immediately and that after a full, thorough and impartial investigation the officers and/or city officials involved be appropriately punished.
/excerpt
Read more: http://www.theroot.com/whatever-you-black-bitch-texas-police-chief-kerry-cr-1795527098
Cross-posted in the African American Group.
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