Police brutality and racial profiling are not uncommon in the city of Shawnee, Oklahoma—a place where multiple Indigenous nations were forcibly relocated to during the 19th century. Shawnee today has a high population of Indigenous and Latine residents, and one woman, Jeanine R., recently caught the outrageous behavior of local police on video in an encounter she had with them while walking along the road with her grandson. Despite no sidewalk being available, Shawnee cop Anthony Starkey threatened Mrs. Jeanine with arrest and assault for failing to walk on a sidewalk, and for not having her ID on her. This sort of aggressive behavior from law enforcement towards Indigenous and Latine people such as herself is not uncommon, Mrs. Jeanine asserts. Police Accountability Report investigates.
Studio: Stephen Janis
Post-Production: Stephen Janis, Adam Coley
Transcript
Taya Graham: My name is Taya Graham. This is my co-host, Stephen Janis, and welcome to this breaking news edition of the Police Accountability Report. We are here to present you with some shocking video of an arrest in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
It depicts an encounter between a Shawnee, Oklahoma, police officer and a grandmother walking down a public road with her grandson and a dog. But what happens when the officer approaches her and what he says when he’s caught on the cell phone camera is what we’ll be unpacking for you today. It’s an arrest that shows, not tells us, that police power is both easy to abuse and destructive when it’s misapplied. And it also raises questions about if the police who enforce the law truly understand it themselves.
The story starts in October of 2023 when Janine R. was out walking with her grandson and her dog. They’re simply walking down a street enjoying their day when a police officer suddenly gets out of his car. Just watch.
[VIDEO CLIP BEGINS]
Police Officer: [Inaudible] Name and date of birth.
Janine: Am I under arrest?
Police Officer: You are being stopped for walking down the wrong side of the road when there’s a sidewalk available, just like I explained to you.
Janine: But we just got here.
Police Officer: What?
Janine: We just got here to the sidewalk.
Police Officer: I’m going to tell you one more time.
Janine: Sir –
Police Officer: Would you like to [crostalk] –
Janine: I know my rights, sir.
[VIDEO CLIP ENDS]
Taya Graham: Stephen, you can see from the very beginning, the officer raises the specter of an arrest. Can you tell me what we’re seeing here?
Stephen Janis: Well, it’s really hard to understand what we’re seeing here because she clearly is just walking along the street. She’s not doing anything. She’s no public threat. She hasn’t committed violence, anything. It’s very, very difficult to understand why the police officer starts out so aggressive.
Taya Graham: So the cop continues to threaten Janine and, understandably, she pushes back. Just watch.
[VIDEO CLIP BEGINS]
Janine: Sir.
Police Officer: Would you like to –
Janine: I know my rights, sir.
Police Officer: Sure.
Janine: I would like your supervisor, please.
Police Officer: Sure, you can after you give me your –
Janine: No, sir.
Police Officer: Okay, come here. Come here. Put your phone down.
Janine: Go get papa.
Police Officer: There you go.
[VIDEO CLIP ENDS]
Taya Graham: Stephen, I heard that the police officer said that she was committing a crime by not using a sidewalk in Oklahoma. What do you know about this law?
Stephen Janis: Well, that law is really just meant to prevent people from blocking traffic. Really a very simple jaywalking law, not something that’s supposed to be enforced in neighborhoods where clearly there’s no traffic, clearly there’s no way to obstruct traffic. So it seems a misapplication of that law.
Taya Graham: Next, the officer said something that I find really troubling. He threatened her with more than arrest. He threatened her with violence. Just listen.
[VIDEO CLIP BEGINS]
Police Officer: Hey, stop it.
Janine’s Grandson: Papa!
Police Officer: [Inaudible]
Janine: Sir.
Police Officer: If you do anything like that, I’m going to put you on your ass. You understand me?
Janine: Sir, I’ve already had this with the Shawnee cops and [handcuffs closing] –
Police Officer: Okay.
Janine: All right.
[VIDEO CLIP ENDS]
Taya Graham: Stephen, this is shocking to me. At least from the video, it seems like she’s minding her own business. Why is he being so aggressive?
Stephen Janis: Well, at this point in the video, there seems to be no justification for the officer ratcheting up this encounter or escalating this encounter. She hasn’t really done anything except question the officer’s right to arrest her or to question the officer for his probable cause and why he wants to arrest her. So really at this point, all of it is inexplicable.
Taya Graham: Stephen, first he mentions her not showing her ID, and then he mentions obstruction. Can you talk a little bit about that? Do you think this is obstruction in terms of a roadway or another form of obstruction?
Stephen Janis: Well, it’s weird, because at first it seems like it might be because of the roadway. But then when he talks about her not giving ID, oftentimes police will say If you don’t give ID when they’re investigating a crime, it’s obstruction. So to me it’s very confusing. And I think that’s a really bad thing when you’re having an encounter with police you’re worried about, to be confused about what type of law you’re applying. And it’s very unclear. And I think, maybe, in some sense, he’s confused.
Taya Graham: Stephen, to me, it seems pretty clear that you’re not supposed to be able to be arrested for not providing ID if you’re a pedestrian. Now, is Oklahoma a stop and ID state?
Stephen Janis: No, it is not. And like most states, it shouldn’t be. If you’re walking on a public road, you should not have to ID yourself. That’s unconstitutional. Obviously, if you’re a motor vehicle, that’s different. But in this case, there’s no underlying crime. I don’t think there’s anything to justify saying you have to give your ID. She’s in a public place. The Constitution protects that. So absolutely not.
Taya Graham: Now, even though the officer has completely changed his justification, he moves to take her phone away to take away her right to record.
[VIDEO CLIP BEGINS]
Police Officer: I’m going to tell you one more time.
Janine: Sir.
Police Officer: Would you like to –
Janine: I know my right, sir.
Police Officer: Sure.
Janine: I would like your supervisor, please.
Police Officer: Sure, you can after you give me your name –
Janine: No, sir.
Police Officer: Okay, come here. Come here. Put your phone down.
Janine: Go get papa.
Police Officer: There you go.
Janine’s Grandson: Papa!
Police Officer: [Inaudible]. Drop it.
Janine’s Grandson: Papa!
Police Officer: None of that has to [inaudible].
Janine: Sir.
Police Officer: If you do anything like that, I’m going to put you on your ass. You understand me?
Janine: Sir. Sir, I’ve already had this with the Shawnee cops.
Police Officer: Okay.
Janine: All right.
Police Officer: You’re going to get obstruction.
Janine: For walking down the road?
Police Officer: No, for not identifying yourself.
Janine: For what though? I wasn’t doing nothing wrong.
Police Officer: I told you what you was doing. Come here. Get in here.
Janine: He’s arresting me for walking.
Police Officer: Get in the car. No, you’re being arrested because –
Janine: Yes.
Police Officer: There you go.
Speaker 1: Why’s she being arrested?
Police Officer: Do what?
Speaker 1: Why’s she being arrested?
Police Officer: For obstruction.
Speaker 1: [Inaudible].
Police Officer: [Inaudible].
Speaker 1: [Inaudible].
[VIDEO CLIP ENDS]
Taya Graham: Stephen, when you are watching this, when you’re seeing this grandmother being threatened with obstruction, with failure to ID for not walking on a sidewalk, and then you see him interfere with her First Amendment right to record, what is going through your mind when you’re seeing this?
Stephen Janis: Well, as we’re watching it right now, I think what I’m seeing is an abuse of police power that should scare us all. This is something we’ve talked about continually on the show, that police power, when abused, is an incredibly intense and incredibly dramatic power that can really ruin someone’s life. And I see here a person who was walking along peacefully, not doing anything. Why is this police officer interfering in her life like this? It’s shocking.
Taya Graham: Stephen, I was just struck by how quickly all of this unfolds. What do you think when you’ve seen this kind of aggressive policing? It’s honestly shocking.
Stephen Janis: It’s something we in police reporting call rapid escalation where police seem to, for some reason, inexplicably either feel that their power is challenged or hegemony is challenged, and they have to rapidly escalate a situation that really doesn’t warrant it. So yeah, it seems to me a classic case of rapid escalation.
Taya Graham: I just find this so problematic because, as we said, this is a grandmother walking with her grandson and her dog. It seems that this aggressive policing was beyond unnecessary.
So we did reach out to Janine. Not only was she arrested, not only was she taken to jail and forced to pay bond, but now she has to hire a lawyer which, as you know, can cost thousands of dollars to represent her in court. And understandably, she is fearful of retaliation.
Now, I’m going to give you what we call the anatomy of a bad arrest to show you how every arrest is consequential and how it can wreak havoc in the lives of innocent people.
First, as you can see, we have a grandmother walking her dog with her grandson. Is she committing a crime, an act of violence? Is there any evidence that she is a danger to the community? Well, I think not. And now the officer approaches and is immediately confrontational. At first, accuses her of not using the sidewalk, and then not IDing herself, and then of obstruction. He also threatens to take her to the ground.
[VIDEO CLIP BEGINS]
Janine: Am I under arrest?
Police Officer: You are being stopped for walking down the wrong side of the road when there’s a sidewalk available, just like I explained to you.
Janine: But we just got here.
Police Officer: What?
Janine: We just got here to the sidewalk.
Police Officer: I’m going to tell you one more time.
Janine: Sir –
Police Officer: Would you like –
Janine: I know my rights, sir.
Police Officer: Sure.
Janine: I would like your supervisor, please.
Police Officer: Sure, you can after you give me your name –
Janine: No, sir.
Police Officer: Okay, come here. Come here. Put your phone down.
[VIDEO CLIP ENDS]
Taya Graham: And finally, he arrests her again for obstructing, although he uses the word “obstruction,” which could mean her refusal to ID. Either way, the consequences for Janine are devastating, not just money and trauma, but her mental health. And as she told me, she’s actually afraid to go outside. She mentioned to me that her grandson has been traumatized and will barely leave her side. And she also is afraid to file a complaint against the police department. She is, put simply, afraid to do anything.
And for me, this type of arrest typifies an issue that we’ve discussed frequently on the show, and that is bad policing is a means to diminishing the political efficacy, the sense of agency, and even the psychology of a person’s right to move about freely. Bad arrests like this don’t just diminish our rights – They diminish us as people. And I think to a certain extent that is purposeful. How else can you explain what we’re watching on the screen right now, and how else can anyone justify such a questionable use of power?
Now, Stephen, you’ve reached out to Shawnee Police. How have they justified this arrest?
Stephen Janis: Well, I called the number that they have for public information and they didn’t call me back. Well, at first they didn’t call me back, and there was no answering machine. But then I just got a call while we’re recording this, so I’m going to call them back when we’re done, and then we will update in a short or we’ll update during the livestream and let people know what’s going on. So they did call me back.
Taya Graham: Okay. Hopefully, we’re going to have an update.
We’re going to do our best to follow up on this case, and Stephen’s going to call the police department back. And of course, if we have any information for you, we’re going to update you in the live chat. My name is Taya Graham. This is Stephen Janis. We are the Police Accountability Report. And if you have evidence of police misconduct or brutality, please share it with us at par@therealnews.com, and we might be able to investigate for you. And of course, you can always reach out to me directly @tayasbaltimore on Twitter or Facebook. And as always, please be safe out there.
Maximillian Alvarez: Thank you so much for watching The Real News Network, where we lift up the voices, stories and struggles that you care about most. And we need your help to keep doing this work. So please tap your screen now, subscribe and donate to The Real News Network. Solidarity forever.
This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
