Shantel Arnold was slammed to the ground by her braids by police in Kenner, Louisiana, after she called them for assistance.
Arnold, 34, called the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office for help on Sept. 20 after being assaulted by a group of boys in the neighborhood. With the help of a man she calls her stepfather, she managed to fight them off while she waited for officers to arrive, reported NOLA.com.
Little did she know that would be the first of two times she would be assaulted that day.
The video of the officer assaulting Arnold began with him grabbing her by the wrist as she lay on her back. He then dragged her across the pavement.
After a brief disappearance behind a parked car, the office re-emerged and began slamming Arnold into the concrete while holding on to her by her braids.
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Arnold, who is diminutive at 4 feet 8 inches tall and weighs around 100 pounds, was handled so forcefully by the officer that at one point, her body can be seen spinning and flipping.
At the end of the attack, the officer put his knee into Arnold’s back.
According to a transcript of her interview with JPSO investigators, after she was assaulted by the boys, she began to walk towards her home when officers pulled up and demanded that she speak with them. She declined and told them that she was just assaulted and wanted to go home.
According to her uncle, an officer then got out of his patrol car and threw her into the ground without any reason.
After Arnold was transported to the hospital, her sister Mercedes said the officer who assaulted her was there and tried to talk her into having the victim committed for mental health issues.
JSPO covers several Louisiana cities and has a history of disparate treatment of Black people in the communities it patrols.
Despite its history, the department does not have body cameras, so the entirety of the investigation is predicated on witness accounts.
JSPO has refused to offer a public statement about the incident while the officer is under investigation.
