Violent traffic arrest of black teacher in Texas probed

Officer said black people have ‘violent tendencies.’

Authorities AUSTIN, TEXAS — in Austin, Texas, are investigating a year-old encounter in which a black female driver was dragged from her car and thrown to the ground twice by a white police officer.

A second officer was also under investigation for telling the driver, an elementary-school teacher, that white people were sometimes wary of black people because of their “violent tendencies.”

The episode unfolded on June 15, 2015, but only recently emerged in the news media after the driver, Breaion King, 26, of Austin, hired a lawyer who sought dashboard-camera videos from the Austin Police Department.

In one video, an officer, Bryan Richter, could be seen pulling up in his patrol car behind King’s vehicle in a parking lot. He told her she had been driving 50 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to police records.

As she emerged from the car, he asked her twice in rapid succession to get back in. After she did, they spoke briefly, and Richter asked her twice to put her feet back into her car so that he could close the door. She responded, “Could you please hurry up?”

The encounter quickly grew tense as he directed her to stand, and he reached into the car. King could be heard saying loudly: “No! Why are you touching me?”

Richter repeatedly told her to “Stop resisting!” and “Get out of the car!” as the horn blared and her car rocked.

Richter then yanked her from the car, spun her and threw her to the ground, the video shows.

King was sitting in the back of a police car when she and Spradlin began discussing race:

King: “I believe that Caucasians have more supremacy over black people, just to be honest. They have more rights. I think a lot of people are afraid of black people.”

Spradlin: “Why are so many people afraid of black people?”

King: “That’s what I want to figure out. Because I’m not a bad black person.”

Spradlin: “I can give you a really good idea why it might be that way.” King: “Why?” Spradlin: “Violent tendencies.”

“I want you to think about that. 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 percent of the time when you hear about stuff like that, it is the black community that’s being violent. That’s why a lot of the white people are afraid.”