海角大神

A video surfaced this week of two Austin police officers yanking second grade school teacher Breaion King from her car at a routine traffic stop and then violently throwing her to the ground twice.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo apologized to Ms. King for the way she was treated by Officer Bryan Richter聽at a press conference Thursday.

鈥淵ou were approached in a manner and treated in a manner that is not consistent with the expectations of this police chief, of most of the officers of this police department, and most importantly, I think, of all of us as human beings,鈥� said Chief Acevedo.

The video's release comes at a time when police around the United States are under heightened scrutiny for what many critics say is a national pattern of disproportionately aggressive policing of members of the black community. A conversation between the arresting officer and his colleague included in the video suggests a prejudicial view of African-Americans as inherently threatening.

Officer Richter聽first pursued King after he saw her going 50 miles per hour in an area with a 35 m.p.h. speed limit. King later pulled over in a Wendy鈥檚 parking lot and got out of the car. The dash cam video shows Richter asking King to get back in the car and to find her driver鈥檚 license.

King doesn鈥檛 close her car door, and Richter said she continued to be 鈥渦ncooperative.鈥� She later pulled away from him while reaching for something on the passenger side of the vehicle, and Richter tried to grab her arms. King then tried to throw a punch 鈥渟o I took her to the ground,鈥� Richter said in his police report.

A second video shows King sitting in the backseat of the patrol car talking to Richter and Officer Patrick Spradlin, who had joined his colleague at the scene.

In this conversation, Officer Spradlin says people are likely afraid of black people because of 鈥渧iolent tendencies.鈥�

鈥�99 percent of the time you hear about stuff like that it is the black community being violent,鈥� adds Spradlin.

Individual officers have been accused of harboring similar sentiments in other high-profile arrests and shootings of black suspects.聽

Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson came under fire in 2014 for the way he described the unarmed teenager Michael Brown during a grand jury hearing convened to determine whether Officer Wilson should face indictment for Mr. Brown's death earlier that year, as 海角大神's Patrik Jonsson reported at the time:

Back in Austin, King's attorney Erica Grigg, who is white, says she sees clear bias in the officer's treatment of her client.

鈥淚 was heartbroken because I looked at that video and thought that would never happen to me as a white woman,鈥� King鈥檚 attorney Erica Grigg told KXAN News. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what I believe; I don鈥檛 think it would鈥檝e escalated the way it did had she been white.鈥澛�

The incident happened in June 2015, but Ms. Grigg says her client was afraid to go forward with the case until now.聽

鈥淪he was just so embarrassed and horrified and scared quite frankly to come forward and complain," Grigg said. "She doesn鈥檛 trust the police any more after this and so I think that鈥檚 what took her so long to come forward.鈥澛�

King says she eventually decided to come forward to set an example for her students.

鈥淲hat happened to me was inexcusable and the individual officers who violated my rights, and the public trust, must be held accountable in our courts of law,鈥� she said in a statement. 鈥淭he violence we have recently seen against the men and women who serve us in uniform is also deplorable.鈥澛�

Just this week, the shooting of an unarmed black man in North Miami Monday also caused nationwide outrage. As The Monitor鈥檚 Lucy Schouten reports: