Portrait of a traumatic arrest in Traffic Stop

NOMINATED for an Academy Award for documentary short subject, Traffic Stop ( right) illuminates timely, resonant issues of race and law enforcement while offering an intimate portrait of one woman in the wake of her traumatic arrest.

The documentary, from the Emmy and Peabody Awardwinning team of director Kate Davis and producer David Heilbroner, premieres this Sunday on HBO (Astro channel 411 / HD 431) at 8pm. It will also be available on HBO On Demand (via Astro GO).

Traffic Stop highlights the events on June 15, 2015, when a car driven by vibrant, 26-year-old African-American schoolteacher Breaion King was pursued by a police officer in Austin, Texas.

As seen on the patrol car’s dash cam, Officer Bryan Richter closed in on King’s car over the course of several blocks, and eventually caught up with her in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, where she exited her car.

Ordered to return to her vehicle, the slender, 49kg King soon found herself in a brutal struggle with Richter, who was eventually joined at the scene by two other police officers, as dash cams and interior cameras recorded the events that followed.

Enroute to the county jail, handcuffed in the back seat of a backup police officer’s squad car, King engaged the officer in a surprisingly candid conversation about race.

A motivated, dedicated schoolteacher and dancer who had never been arrested before, King was raised by a single mother, who died when she was a teenager.

She’s proud of being the first in her family to buy her own home, graduate from college and get an MA, and aspires to earn a doctorate eventually.

Traffic Stop juxtaposes raw footage of King’s arrest and conversation with scenes from her everyday routine, offering a vivid portrait of a woman whose life is forever changed one afternoon by a sudden encounter with law enforcement.

In addition to its Oscar nomination, Traffic Stop won the Grand Jury Prize in the Shorts Competition at DOC NYC 2017.