All-Too-Familiar Video Shows White Police Officers Pinning Down a Young Black Woman in a Waffle House

In an episode very reminiscent of the recent Starbucks arrests, 25-year-old Chikesia Clemons is seen here being threatened and pushed to the ground by police officers in an Alabama Waffle House. After a minor alleged dispute with the cashier over being charged for plastic utensils, Clemons is seen seated by a window while an officer holds her arm. “You’re not gonna grab on me like that, no,” she says, and in seconds, three officers are pinning her to the floor while her dress is pulled down, exposing her bare chest.

“What are you doing?” she and her friend are heard saying, to which an officer replies, “I’m gonna break your arm.”

Clemons’s mother tells AL.com that her daughter was arrested around 2:45 AM on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. She reportedly paid a $1,000 bond. AL reports that Clemons had simply asked to file a complaint with the manager after she was charged 50 cents for plastic utensils which she claimed she had not been charged for at the same location the previous night. The staff apparently called the police, who, without asking her to leave, put their hands on her:

“They didn’t even ask her to leave, she was waiting for them to give her the district manager’s card so she could file a complaint on one of the waitresses,” Clemons-Howard said. “When they went to go get the card, that’s when the police showed up. The officer should’ve come in and said we need you to leave.”

The video is drawing outrage on social media. The local police department is aware of this and has announced that it is investigating.