The video obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation shows Charlena Michelle Cooks, who was eight-month pregnant at the time of the incident in January, was approached by officers after she got in a "petty" argument with an employee at her daughter`s school in Barstow.
An unnamed white woman told the officers that Cooks was acting “all crazy”. The officers asked Cooks to give them her name, something they did not ask the white woman.
When Cooks refused to tell them her last name, the officers pulled her arms around her back and slammed her to the ground and handcuffed her, despite her repeated pleas that she was pregnant.
"I don`t think I`ve ever been that terrified in my life," Cooks told the Desert Dispatch newspaper.
“I told them I was pregnant so he could proceed with caution,” she said. “That didn`t happen and the first thing I thought was I didn`t want to fall to the ground. I felt the pressure on my stomach from falling and I was calling for help. But those guys are supposed to help me. But who is supposed to help me when they are attacking me?”
It is not illegal in California for an individual to withhold his or her identification if has not been charged with a crime.
Adrienna Wong, staff attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation said Cooks had every right not to tell the police officers her name of show her identification.
“It would be a wrongful arrest, but it would be an arrest,” Wong said.
“Even if an officer is conducting an investigation, in California, unlike some other states, he can’t just require a person to provide ID for no reason,” she added.
Cooks, however, was prohibited from going near her daughter’s school until the charges were dropped.
After the ACLU released the video last week, the Barstow Police Department issued a statement, refusing to accept the officers` actions as racially biased.
“Barstow is a racially diverse community, as is our Police Department, and we affirm our Police Department’s commitment to protect and serve all of our residents,” the statement read..
Cooks went on to have her baby in March. Although the baby was born healthy, it is till being monitored by doctors.
SB/GJH
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