2 Jasper, Texas Police Officers Fired After Beating Down Black Woman [Video]
To say that Black people have a distrust and fear of the police is an understatement. In the latest case of Crooked Cops Gone Wild, the boys in blue beat down a Black woman in Jasper, Texas.
Yes… Jasper, Texas. The same town where James Byrd, a Black man, was tied to the back of a pickup by three white men and dragged for several miles until he was decapitated.
The incident occurred on May 5th as Keyarika “Shea” Diggles, 25, was brought to the jail on May 5 for an unpaid fine. Apparently Diggles was on the phone with her mother trying to arrange to get the $100 owed when Officer Ricky Grissom cut off the call.
Though the audio wasn’t on, you can witness the assault as Diggles and Grissom seem to be arguing when Officer Ryan Cunningham comes in from behind Diggles and attempts to handcuff her.
Clearly not resisting arrest, Cunningham grabs Diggles by the hair and slams her head into a countertop. The officers wrestle Diggles to the ground before dragging her by her ankles into a jail cell.
Speaking with Yahoo News, Diggles’ attorney Cade Bernsen, stated,
“The amount of force used was abominable. She got her hair pulled out, broke a tooth, braces got knocked off … it was brutal.”
Diggles was charged with resisting arrest for arguing with the officers, a charge dropped on Monday, according to Bernsen.
Cunningham and Grissom have now been fired but this is just the latest racial incident occurring in the densely populated town of roughly 8,000 people two hours northeast of Houston.
Just last year, a majority-white Jasper City Council fired the town’s first black chief Rodney Pearson after only 16 months on the job. Pearson is now suing, claiming his civil rights were violated.
“It’s a different part of the world, man, it’s crazy,” said Bernsen, who’s also representing the fired police chief.
Jasper City Council Member Alton Scott obtained the video and turned it over to the local television station after he heard Diggles’ written complaints were being ignored.
Scott also told Yahoo,
“The more things change, the more they remain the same. There’s nothing she said that could have justified what they did. They are supposed to be trained professionals. They are supposed to be above that. It was inexcusable.”
After terminating the officers on Monday, the council requested that the pair be investigated for possible criminal charges. Bernsen said he hopes that probe is done by the FBI or state police.
“I don’t trust the Police Department as far as you can throw them,” he said.
As crazy as this is, let’s not think that this is only going on in small cities like Jasper. This happens everyday and many times there isn’t video or audio footage to capture the rogue police officers in action. It’s crimes like this that Christopher Dorner discussed in his manifesto before taking his brothers in blue to war in Los Angeles earlier this year.
As the late great Tupac said, “These punk police is just as crooked as me…”
Watch the gaffling of Keyarika “Shea” Diggles below… Sister you are going to own Jasper, Texas in a minute.
Hip Hop Enquirer Magazine | Follow us @HipHopEnquirer
