Two police officers wrestled a 25-year old Black woman to the ground at an Alabama Waffle House has sparked outrage online.
Chikesia Clemons’s arrest on Sunday was captured on video and quickly spread across social media. The video shows White police officers talking to and holding on to Clemons as she explains an interaction she had with someone at Waffle House in Saraland, AL.
In the edited clip, obtained by AL.com and taken by Clemons’s friend, Canita Adams, Saraland Police officers can be seen violently throwing Clemons on the ground, as Adams yells that she wasn’t doing anything.
“What are you doing?” Clemons asks as the officers try to handcuff her. One officer responds, “I’ll break your arm, that’s what I’m about to do.” At one point, Clemons’s breast was exposed during the struggle.
Protect our women. This is wrong, this is unjust and this happens to alot of women when there are NO cameras around. Stand with our women. Defend their voice, and their right to ask why they’re being handled, being removed, being CHOKED. Be infuriated. Be willing to fight 🖕🏾🐽 https://t.co/P8NMBrN0UH
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) April 23, 2018
Clemons had asked a Waffle House employee for plastic utensils and was told that it costs 50 cents. Clemons and Adams told the employee they were at the same location the night before and weren’t charged, the employee canceled the order, Clemons-Howard told AL.com.
When Clemons asked for the contact information for the store’s manager, the police were called.
“They didn’t even ask her to leave, she was waiting for them to give her the district manager’s card so she could file a complaint on one of the waitresses,” Clemons-Howard said. “When they went to go get the card, that’s when the police showed up. The officer should’ve come in and said we need you to leave.”
This latest incident follows two Black men who were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks location on April 12, which prompted outrage, an apology from the CEO and the closing of 8,000 stores for one day in May for racial-bias training.
“In light of the current situation in our country — such as the arrest of two young black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks coffee shop — we felt it was important for our members to get a first-hand account of the incident, which has now gone viral on social media locally and across the country,” said Mobile NAACP President David Smith.
Clemons was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, AL.com reports.
Check out the video below.
