A police officer in Cincinnati who used his Taser on an 11-year-old girl suspected of shoplifting was also caught on camera telling her “this is why there’s no grocery stores in the black community.”
Officer Kevin Brown, 55, is facing punishment ranging from counseling to termination for the Aug. 6 tasing of the girl, who is black, at a Kroger supermarket where she had been suspected of using her backpack to steal items, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
“You know, sweetheart, this is why there’s no grocery stores in the black community,” Brown told the girl, according to bodycam footage.
Brown violated four policies during the incident, including that his comment constituted prejudice and that he didn’t warn the girl about deploying his Taser, according to a use-of-force report.
Brown, who is also black, insisted to investigators that his remark was backed up by statistics and claimed he wasn’t biased in any way.
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“I think the officer was trying to express to this juvenile suspect that there are consequences, not only to herself, but to others when you don’t respect the property rights of another,” Cincinnati Police Union president Dan Hils told the newspaper.
Cop who tased girl: ‘This is why there’s no grocery stores in the black community’
Officer Kevin Brown, 55, is facing punishment ranging from counseling to termination for the Aug. 6 tasing of the girl, who is black, at a Kroger supermarket where she had been suspected of using her backpack to steal items, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
“You know, sweetheart, this is why there’s no grocery stores in the black community,” Brown told the girl, according to bodycam footage.
Brown violated four policies during the incident, including that his comment constituted prejudice and that he didn’t warn the girl about deploying his Taser, according to a use-of-force report.
Brown, who is also black, insisted to investigators that his remark was backed up by statistics and claimed he wasn’t biased in any way.
[clip]
“I think the officer was trying to express to this juvenile suspect that there are consequences, not only to herself, but to others when you don’t respect the property rights of another,” Cincinnati Police Union president Dan Hils told the newspaper.
Cop who tased girl: ‘This is why there’s no grocery stores in the black community’
