Josias Perkins, a 19-year-old Black man, was driving his little sister to school last week when Haysville police pulled them over in Kansas, accusing him of driving 16 mph over the speed limit.
But instead of asking for his license and registration, a Haysville police officer ordered the siblings to stick their hands out the window without telling them why he had stopped them.
Video Perkins’ sister recorded from the passenger seat shows the cop opening the driver’s side door and grabbing Perkins to pull him from the car.
‘Let Me Get Out’
“You’re under arrest,” the officer said. “Step out.”
“For what? For what?” Perkins asked.
“Step out,” the officer repeated as he tried to grab Perkins’ wrist.
“Let me get out then,” Perkins told the officer, who blocked him from stepping out of the car. “Let me get out, let me get out.”
Perkins pulled away and climbed out through the passenger-side door as the officer tried to drag him out by his ankles from the other side, causing his pajama bottoms to come off.
The first officer, joined by a second officer holding a Taser, then approached him.
“Let me put my pants on,” Perkins said. He was wearing shorts.
But the officers tasered him anyway.
Only after officers tasered and handcuffed him did one officer tell him why they had pulled him over.
“You were speeding 36 in a 20-mile-an-hour school zone,” the officer said.
“Alright, alright, my bad, my bad,” Perkins responded, clearly in pain.
Watch the video below.
‘He Was Very Aggressive Towards Me’
The incident took place at about 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 27 as Haysville police said they were conducting speed-zone enforcement in a school zone.
Perkins’ sister, Leacia Trujillo, told Atlanta Black Star they did not realize they had driven through a school zone.
“We weren’t sure if it was us being pulled over because there was a very, very big distance between our car and the police car,” she said in a telephone interview.
“We tried to move out of the way because we weren’t sure if it was us. Once we realized that it was us, we pulled into the Dollar General, but we still weren’t sure if it was us they were pulling over.”
“But as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, the police jumped out of the car and started screaming for us to put our hands out the window.”
“We did what he asked, but then he started pulling out his gun,” she continued. “And my brother started screaming. He put his gun away because I was right next to him.”
She said that once the officers tasered and handcuffed her brother, they demanded to search her purse, but she refused to consent.
“He was very aggressive towards me,” she said in a telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star.
“I kept getting yelled at. They tried to search me. They kept trying to keep me and my brother away from each other.”
“[The officers] tried to search my bag and started accusing him of putting stuff inside my bag,” she continued.
“This area is very known for having racist law enforcement, but I have to go to school there,” she said.
Police Statement
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the Haysville Police Department requesting the affidavit and body-camera video from the arrest, but the department has not yet responded.
However, in a statement to local media, Haysville police largely confirmed the sister’s account of the route they took. Police characterized the vehicle’s movement as an attempt to elude officers, while Trujillo said they were unsure whether police were trying to pull them over.
The blue Ford Explorer was observed driving west at a rate that appeared to be above the posted speed limit and was verified with radar to be traveling 36 mph in the 20-mph school zone.
The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, and the vehicle stopped briefly at the corner of Main and Grand before turning north and speeding up North Main Street. He then pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot and drove through, coming to a stop in front of the Dollar General store.
Officers gave the driver commands to shut the vehicle off and put their hands out the window, which they appeared to comply with. The officer approached the vehicle to get the driver out, but he was noncompliant from the start and refused to cooperate.
The subject climbed over the center console and got out of the passenger side to avoid the officer. Officers again gave verbal commands as the suspect continued to back away, and officers warned him that they would tase him if he did not stop and comply. He continued to back away and officers subsequently tased and placed him in custody.
Perkins was charged with speeding in a school zone, interference with police, possession of marijuana, and fleeing and eluding.
‘Sundown Town’
Perkins’ mother, Jessica Adkins, described Haysville as a “sundown town,” a term historically used for towns that forced Black people to leave by sunset. She said the family lives just outside the city limits.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Haysville has a population of about 11,000. White residents make up about 84 percent of the population, while Black residents make up about 1.3 percent.
“People [on social media] are saying it’s my son’s fault, but I completely disagree,” she said in a telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star.
“If that officer would have walked up to the window and said, ‘Hey, I need your license [and] registration,’ I’m a hundred percent sure my son would have handed it over.”
Instead, Adkins said, the officer began pulling out his gun even though both siblings had their hands out the window.
“He was going for his gun, and my son had both his hands out the window, and he told him, ‘Hey, relax. My baby sister is in the car.’”
“It was kind of confusing to him because he didn’t understand why he was being arrested,” she said.
