A sheriff’s deputy in Kaufman, Texas is under investigation after video captured him sitting on a teenage Black girl during an arrest.
CBS 11 reports the incident happened in Forney’s Deerfield Heights neighborhood on Tuesday (July 27). The sheriff, who’s only been identified as “Deputy Marlin,” has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation after the disturbing video surfaced on social media.
The incident began after police recieved 911 calls about the young woman.
“There’s a lady – young lady – African American lady – that is walking in the middle of the street,” one caller said. Another added, ““She’s thrown herself out on the road — looks like a possible suicide.”
In the body camera footage, the deputy is seen approaching 18-year-old Nekia Trigg as she walks down the street. He asks if she’s ok, why she’s crying, and where she lives. Trigg tells the deputy she wants to go home and repeatedly tells him she doesn’t want him to hurt her. The deputy then grabs her arm and tells her she can’t walk off from him.
From there, Deputy Marlin pins Trigg to the ground, mounting the teen by putting his full body on top of her. “You’re hurting me already,” Trigg can be heard saying in the video. “Sit down okay,” Deputy Marlin responds, as he continues pinning Trigg’s wrist to the ground.
The office says the deputy used a technique taught by the department to control people without obstructing thier breathing. Trigg’s family disputes that and says she was struggling to breathe.
Trigg’s mother, 41-year-old Antanique Ray, who was sitting nearby, tells Martin, “You don’t have to ever hit her, okay? She will stay down.”
Martin tells Ray, “You need to back up. You need to back up.” As Ray lightly touches Martin’s hand, the deputy starts screaming, “Do not touch me! Back up! Back up!”
“This officer, who repeatedly stated that she was at harm, that she was trying to harm herself, and if this was in fact the case, and it wasn’t – let me make that clear – it wasn’t, but if it was, imagine as a parent your child calls you and says, ‘Mom I’m in danger from an officer,’” the family’s attorney said in a statement to NBC 5. “Officers are here to serve and protect, and if he was doing his duty, if he thought that Nekia was trying to harm herself, throwing her to the ground and sitting on her chest was not the way to fix that.”
According to the Dallas Morning News, Trigg’s mother, Antanique Ray, was detained in the Kaufman County jail on charges of assault of a public servant and interference with public duties. She was released on bond. Meanwhile, police took Trigg to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
