Sisters Besieged: 8 Vicious and Disturbing Acts of Police Brutality Against Black Women

Detroit Cop Caught On Camera Cutting Off Detained Woman's Hair After she woke up at a motel, surrounded by strangers, with no idea how she had gotten there, Charda Gregory says she "flipped out," then allegedly damaged the Detroit hotel room she was in. That evening, Nov. 13, 2013, Gregory was arrested and charged with the misdemeanor offense of destruction of property. After police say she kicked out the window of the responding police car, she was pepper-sprayed and charged with the felony of malicious destruction of police property. By the time she had reached the police station, Gregory, though visibly intoxicated, had calmed down and become docile. However, Warren Police Officer Bernadette Najor struck the young mother on the chest and pushed her. Several minutes later, officers can be seen restraining Gregory in a chair as she struggles and Najor, using scissors, cuts out Gregory's sewn-in hair extensions. It takes just over 3 minutes before Najor finishes the hair cut. Gregory was detained for 14 days and when she was released, she barely remembered what happened. She thought she may have been drugged earlier that night when she went to a party. All charges against Gregory were dropped, and Officer Najor was fired. New Mexico State Trooper Shoots At Mother and Five Kids In Minivan Oriana Farrell, 39, and her five children, ages 6 to 18, were visiting New Mexico on Oct. 28, 2013, when she was pulled over for speeding near Taos. The situation soon escalated, leading to a high-speed chase, a cop firing at the vehicle, and the arrest of Farrell and her 14-year-old son, who confronted an officer. The incident gained national attention after authorities released a dashboard video. The video shows Farrell arguing with an officer after she refused to pay the fine or contest the ticket in court. The trooper told her to stay in her vehicle while he checked her documents, but she drove away instead. The cop pulled her over again about half-mile down the road and ordered her to get out of the vehicle. Farrell's 14-year-old son got out of the minivan to protect his mother. Two more officers arrived and the family locked themselves in the minivan. According to court documents, one of the officers fired three rounds at the back tires "in an attempt to keep the vehicle from leaving," the Taos News reported. Another officer broke the passenger-side window with his baton. Farrell took off again, fleeing at speeds up to 100 mph before surrendering at a hotel, according to the Taos News. Police arrested Farrell and her teen son after the chase. She faces charges of child abuse, fleeing, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia for two marijuana pipes found in her van. Farrell has since been released on bail, and her case is scheduled for a jury trial on April 21. She wrote in a letter: "As a single, African-American mother of five in this country, things are tough enough. I should not have to endure harassment at the hands of someone who has been hired to protect the citizens of this land over an alleged 'speeding offense.' No one should." Unarmed Woman Shot Dead By Chicago Police Rekia Boyd was an innocent bystander in Chicago’s Douglas Park at around 1:00 a.m. on March 21, 2012, when Detective Dante Servin, responding to a disturbance call, arrived on the scene. The off-duty officer exchanged words with Antonio Cross, who was also in the park. After turning away, Servin, who was in his car, claims he saw Cross pull out a gun. It was actually his cell phone, but it was too late. Servin fired five shots “blindly” over his shoulder, shooting Cross in his thumb and striking Boyd in the head. The 22-year-old died the next day at Mount Sinai Hospital. There were no weapons recovered at the scene. “lt’s a sad day when charges are warranted against a police officer, but we feel very strongly that in this particular case Ms. Rekia Boyd lost her life for no reason and that this defendant's actions were reckless in shooting in that alleyway that was occupied,” the state's attorney, Anita Alvarez, said. The city settled a $4.5 million wrongful death lawsuit with Boyd’s family this past March, but it's safe to assume they would rather have had her in their lives. Woman Handcuffed And Fatally Assaulted By LAPD Alesia Thomas lost consciousness and died in Los Angeles police custody on July 22, 2013, after being handcuffed, placed in a hobble restraint device (leg restraints) and put into the back of a patrol vehicle. Police went to her LA apartment to arrest the 35-year-old mother on charges of child abandonment, after she left her two children at a police station. Thomas, who reportedly had a history of mental illness and battled drug addiction, was apparently taking advantage of the city’s “safe haven” law, which allows struggling parents to surrender their children at certain locations, including police and fire stations, or hospitals. The situation reported escalated when she resisted arrest. According to police spokesman Sgt. Frank Preciado, there is no arrest report because Thomas died in custody before officers could reach the police station. Police refuse to release the dashcam video that showed exactly what happened to Thomas that morning, but assault charges were filed against Officer Mary O'Callaghan, 48. O'Callaghan was seen on video repeatedly kicking Thomas in the stomach and genitals and punching her in the throat. A statement released by department officials said officers used "questionable tactics" against Thomas while she was restrained, and made "inappropriate verbal comments.” Texas Police Slam Woman's Head So Hard Her Tooth Breaks, Braces Knocked Out Two police officers in Jasper, Texas, were fired after they were caught on video beating a woman who was being arrested for an unpaid traffic ticket on May 5, 2013. The video, obtained from the Jasper Police Department, shows Officer Ricky Grissom pushing 25-year-old Keyarika “Shea” Diggles up against a wall before Officer Ryan Cunningham comes from behind and slams her head against a countertop. Diggles is then forced to the ground and dragged by her ankle into a nearby cell. Diggles said that Grissom was polite at first, allowing her to call her mother from the police station to raise the $150 needed to pay the fine. But he eventually became impatient and cut off the call. “He said, ‘I’ve been waiting here all this time when I could have been out patrolling, waiting on you. This is stupid,’” Diggles recalled. “He just went to cussing. And then I was like, ‘Well, you don’t have to yell at me.’” “The amount of force used was abominable,” attorney Cade Bernsen, who is representing Diggles, told Yahoo News. “She got her hair pulled out, broke a tooth, braces got knocked off … it was brutal.” Elderly Woman Shot and Killed After Police Broke Down Her Door Using Falsified Warrant In November 2006, three officers had entered 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston's Atlanta home in what was later described as a 'botched' drug raid. Officers cut off burglar bars and broke down her door. Police said Johnston fired at them and they fired in response; she fired one shot through the door over the officers' heads. They fired 39 shots, six of which hit the elderly woman. None of the officers were injured by her gunfire, but Johnston was killed by the officers. Police injuries were later attributed to "friendly fire" from each other's weapons. One of the officers planted marijuana in Johnston's house after the shooting. Later investigations found that the paperwork stating that drugs were present at Johnston's house, which had been the basis for the raid, had been falsified. The officers later admitted to having lied when they submitted cocaine as evidence, claiming they had bought it at Johnston's house. The three officers were tried for manslaughter and other charges surrounding falsification of evidence. One police officer was sentenced to 10 years, another one got six, and the third officer in the case received five years' imprisonment. Police Punch Pregnant Woman in Rochester, NY Back in August 2013, a police officer was caught on tape attacking a young Rochester, N.Y., woman, even though she repeatedly told him that she was pregnant. While details surrounding the arrest remain unclear, the video shows the officer using brutal and excessive force while arresting the woman on residential property. In the video Officer Lucas Krull is seen throwing 21-year-old Brenda Hardaway against a banister and punching her in the head as she cries hysterically and screams, "I'm pregnant! Get off me. You're going to kill my baby." Police claim that the woman was arrested because she threatened to use a can of pepper spray on the officers after intervening in the arrest of another person. In the video, her 16-year-old brother, Romengeno, can be seen sitting on the steps, hands cuffed, telling the officers that his sister can't have her hands cuffed behind her back because she is pregnant, and falling forward could cause harm to the baby. In a press conference regarding the incident and subsequent outcry, Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard praised the officers involved for the level of restraint they used. Watch the video below. Warning: This video is contains graphic violence. French Police Beat Woman, Spray Tear Gas In Her Face Brutal attacks on Black women by overly aggressive male officers don't only happen in the United States. In August 2013, a video out of France shows police brutally beating a woman with a baton and spraying tear gas in her face during a very violent arrest that sparked outrage in that nation. The video, which comes from Joué-lès-Tours in central France, shows one cop attempting to subdue a man accused of drunk driving while another grapples with a female passenger. The cop is seen hitting the woman with his baton and later spraying tear gas in her face. After French prosecutors launched an investigation into the incident, they announced two months later that they would not pursue a case against the police officer who acted violently against the woman, causing more outrage in France's Black community. Take a look at the graphic video below.

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