A Texas state representative’s recent claim that he was mistreated by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop last month because of his race is coming under scrutiny after the release of dash cam video from the incident.
During a House committee hearing last week to discuss the recent arrest of Sandra Bland in Waller County, Texas, Democrat chairman Garnet Coleman shared a story about a recent encounter with police in which he said the officer treated him “like a boy.”
“He talked to me like I was a child,” Coleman said, describing the July 14 traffic stop on Interstate 10 in Austin County. “He was so rude and nasty. Even when he found out I was a legislator, he became more rude and nasty. And I didn’t understand why this guy was continuing to go on and on and treat me like a child. And basically like I’m saying is treat me like a boy. I want to be very clear about that.”
Coleman, who is black and represents a district in Houston, said he was stopped while speeding while driving from Austin, the state capital, to his hometown.
But what he did not say is that not only did the officer who pulled him over treat him cordially, but he even let the lawmaker off with a mere warning, even though he was driving 94 miles per hour in a 75 mph speed zone.
The Austin County sheriff’s department released video of the traffic stop Tuesday. Houston’s KHOU first reported the footage from the stop.
The nine-minute video shows a sheriff’s deputy pulling Coleman over on the highway and approaching the politician’s vehicle from the passenger side.
“How you doing?” the deputy asks.
“All right. How are you?” Coleman responds.
“Pretty good. What’s the rush?” the deputy asks.
“I’m just trying to go home,” Coleman says.
“You can’t do 94 miles an hour, though,” the deputy tells Coleman, who responds, saying he didn’t realize he was going that fast.
Coleman then informed the deputy that he is a state representative. The deputy politely said he already knew that because of the vehicle’s state representative license plates. The deputy also said that Coleman had a previous speeding violation in Wharton County.
“Mr. Coleman, I’ll let you go with a warning,” the deputy tells Coleman. “This is the same thing Wharton County did with you last year.”
“Yeah, like I said. They didn’t give me a ticket,” Coleman responds.
“If Wharton County had given you a ticket and I gave you a ticket today you’d lose your driver’s license on points,” the deputy says.
He added: “Stop speeding in a state car, OK? You got state plates on here, man. It’s a state official plate. You realize how bad that looks?”
Coleman said that he understood but that “the speed got away” from him.
According to KHOU, part of the exchange after that is inaudible, though Coleman can be heard telling the deputy, “but I’m not a child.”
“I didn’t say you were a child,” the deputy responds. “I’m just trying to make you understand.”
“I appreciate what you’re doing,” Coleman replies.
“OK, just slow down some, OK?” the deputy says.
“I just wasn’t paying attention,” Coleman responds.
“Well, pay attention,” the deputy says while chuckling.
Austin County sheriff Jack Brandes said that the video “shows exactly what happened.”
“I saw nothing that indicated that he put forth any disrespect whatsoever,” Brandes said of the sheriff’s deputy.
Austin County borders Waller County on the west. That’s where 28-year-old Sandra Bland was stopped last month by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper. Bland was arrested on charges of assaulting an officer after a scuffle with the trooper. Dash cam video from that stop indicated that in that case, the trooper mistreated Bland. She died in Waller County jail three days later after she allegedly hanged herself in her jail cell.
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