Sunday afternoon, a passerby captured on video a white Shelby County deputy following a lone black woman down a Cordova road, calling for backup and then joining three deputies who tackle her, cuff her and shove her into a sheriff's car. The three-minute video of the arrest quickly went viral. Viewers were outraged, as was I, but on Facebook, I took a measured tone, writing that I looked forward to learning what happened before the recording began. Based on the police report, the details are worse than I imagined. Before deputies encountered Kesha Gray, an eyewitness had already told them he saw her being choked and punched by a man outside a silver sedan. Yet it was Gray who ended up in jail. Gray, 29, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, charged with obstructing a highway, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault. The incident raises issues of race and power, police discretion and police abuse, and how victims are re-traumatized by those who are supposed to protect and serve. Here's a condensed account: A passing motorist noticed a man choking, punching and dragging a black woman outside of a silver sedan on Pisgah Road in Cordova. The motorist stopped to help prevent what he thought was a kidnapping, but the man, later identified as the woman's fianc'e, threatened the motorist. The motorist pulled a gun on the fianc'e, who sped off. The victim left on foot, refusing to give her name to the motorist, who called police. She wouldn't give her name to the police officer who arrived, either, and that's her right in Tennessee. Tennessee does not have a stop-and-identify statute, which means police cannot force a person to identify him/her/themselves unless police have a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a crime.
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