A white police officer in Alabama was placed on administrative leave after a viral video appeared to show her mistreating a Black man during a traffic stop.
On Monday (Dec. 4), Reform Police Chief Richard Black released a joint statement with Mayor Melody Davis in response to growing backlash over the clip, which was shared on Facebook this past Sunday (Dec. 3). In the short video, the unnamed official handcuffed the man and placed him against the hood of her patrol car. After the individual informed her of a gun in his possession, she retrieved the weapon while laughing and fired a stun gun directly into his back.
“You want it again?” she could be heard asking as the man cried in pain. “Shut the f**k up, you was big and bad. Shut your b**ch a** up.” The identity of the arrestee was later revealed by WVTM 13 to be 24-year-old Micah Washington of Tuscaloosa, who was charged with obstructing governmental operations, resisting arrest, marijuana possession, drug trafficking, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is currently being held on a $500,000 bond.
“The Reform Police Department is aware of a video circulating involving a citizen’s arrest on Dec. 2, 2023,” read the aforementioned statement. “The department is in the process of turning over all materials related to this arrest to the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation and has requested a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest. In accordance with city policy, the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is conducted.”
Since the incident, some of Washington’s supporters took to the Reform Municipal Building to protest. Jalexis Rice, Washington’s girlfriend who filmed the video, told WVTM 13 that the situation began when they pulled over to change a tire. “When I seen it, I couldn’t do nothing but cry,” she said about the harrowing moments she recorded following the officer‘s arrival.