Rio Vista Cop Under Investigation After Body Slamming a Woman on Video!
We've said it before, we'll quote it again:
"The most disrespected woman in America, is the Black Woman. The most un-protected person in America is the Black Woman. The most neglected person in America, is the Black Woman" Malcolm X
What began as a routine traffic stop turned into a one-sided wrestling match when a Rio Vista police officer body slammed a passenger from the stopped vehicle. The car's owner Mea Thomas said that the police officer told them that the vehicle had a suspended registration and was going to be towed. A statement she found impossible since she'd just bought the car and had it completely registered.
Also in the car was Mea Thomas' mother, Deshaunna Payne, and Deshaunna's other daughter, Cherish Thomas. They both got out and started recording cell phone video.
At the same time, detainee Tyrone Clayton Jr. was recording from the back seat of the patrol car.
Police say the two women ignored directions to remain with their car and repeatedly tried to push past the officers.
Deshaunna Payne tells it much differently.
"He's aggressing her. He's walking towards her," she said. "Her hands weren't cuffed. She didn't have nothing in her hand. He had slapped the phone out her hand."
Via FOX 40:
"What doesn't sit well with me is them saying that I tried to swing on the officer. You slammed my daughter to the ground. Dirt, which is hard as concrete, on her face," Deshaunna Payne said. "He's three times bigger than her. That was unnecessary."
Cherish Thomas, Deshaunna Payne, Mea Thomas and Mychal Ivy were all arrested and later released. Cherish was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, obstructing or delaying an investigation and public intoxication.
The family has an attorney and said they are planning to fight the charges they're facing. They also want the officer who slammed Cherish to face disciplinary action.
In the release, police say body camera footage from the officers at the scene will be sent "within the next couple of days." An internal investigation into the officer's use of force will also be conducted.
Rio Vista's police chief says the officer who tackled Cherish has not been placed on leave."
We'll play devil's advocate here and say that maybe, just maybe, she was resisting. . . does that still give him the right to body-slam a woman as if she was a world wrestling champ? Would he have done this to any other woman? Would he have done this to his own mother, wife or daughter?
We don't think so.
