*The Colorado police force under scrutiny for the August 2019 death of Elijah McClain is catching heat once again over recently released video of a Black woman hogtied in a patrol car.
The woman is seen riding upside down for more than 20 minutes following her arrest in August 2019. She even calls the white officer “master” and begs him to lift her from the floorboard.
Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said former officer Levi Huffine appears to be “punishing” the woman.
“In my opinion she was just tortured back there. It makes me sick,” said Wilson of the video Tuesday, during a civil service commission appeal hearing for Huffine, who was fired over the incident. He appealed his termination.
“We are not judge, jury and executer,” said Wilson. “We are not to treat people inhumanely like they don’t matter.
“And he is lucky she did not die in the backseat of that car. Because he would be — in my opinion — in an orange jumpsuit right now,” said Wilson.
READ MORE: Reparations Closer to Becoming Reality with AB3121 Study California
Attempting to get his job back, former @AuroraPD Ofc. Levi Huffine begins testifying about troubling arrest video. Live report on @CBSDenver at 6pm. Previous report here:https://t.co/m3dyr8mZso pic.twitter.com/o3R3WhDRlR
— Brian Maass (@Briancbs4) September 30, 2020
Here’s more from CBS 4 Denver:
Huffine arrested Shataean Kelly, 28, on Aug. 27, 2019, on municipal charges resulting from a fight. On his bodycam video, Officer Huffine decides to hobble Kelly — tying her handcuffed hands to her feet when he said she tried to escape from his patrol car by trying to open door handles in the backseat.
Wilson testified the door handles in the backseat are inoperable and in her opinion, hobbling Kelly was unnecessary. She said she felt Huffine was “punishing” the prisoner who had also been verbally abusive toward the officer.
“The hobbling in my opinion was another form of punishment,” said Wilson, notin that Kelly could have easily died of positional asphyxia.
The video played at the hear Tuesday shows Kelly begging for help during the drive to jail.
“Officer please, I can’t breathe,” she says. “I don’t want to die like this. I’m about to break my neck,” cries Kelly. “My neck is killing me dude. Help me, I can’t breathe.”
Officer Huffine does not appear to respond to Kelly. At one point Kelly says, “I beg you master.”
“As an African-American female she denigrates herself to the point she actually calls him ‘master.’ To me that is disgusting,” said Wilson.
In February, Wilson fired Huffine. All criminal charges were dropped against Kelly. She did not suffer serious injuries during the ride to jail.
“It’s beyond human decency for me,” said the chief of the video. “It’s unacceptable. I don’t know what else to say.”
Scroll up and watch the disturbing footage via the YouTube video above.
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