Miss Black Texas claims officer wrongfully arrested her in fit of road rage
There are conflicting accounts of what happened when the 2016 Miss Black Texas was arrested on Saturday.
Carmen Ponder, a 23-year-old pre-law student at Texas A&M University-Commerce originally though the man who was involved in a “road rage” incident with her was Chief Kerry Crews but she now says she may have gotten that identification wrong. This, according to her attorney.
Many of her statements do not line up with statements given by Crews who has been put on routine paid administrative leave while a third party investigation is conducted by Fort Worth law firm Lynn Ross & Gannaway.
According to reports, Crews had been shopping at Wal-Mart when he saw two motorists in a dispute in the parking lot. One of the motorists “failed to comply with [Crews] requests.” That person was then arrested for “evading arrest or detention.”
Ponder shared a very different story on Twitter. According to her, she was driving when she was cut off by a black truck that had been driving erratically. She thought the driver might be impaired so she signaled and drove past into the stores parking lot.
— Video appears to show Texas officer striking teenage girl —
She says the man then followed her into the parking lot and began to yell profanities at her.
Ponder says the man stated he was teaching his 14-year-old how to drive and she should not have driven around them. Ponder said it was illegal for a 14-year-old to drive and continued to walk towards the Wal-Mart. That was when she heard him say, “Oh whatever, you black [expletive].”
According to her, when she exited the store she was approached by a plainclothes officer who flashed his badge and said the man she got into the altercation with was his chief and she needed to apologize.
She said no and began to walk towards her car when the cop grabbed her arm and told her she was being detained. At this point, she called 911.
When more officers arrived, they were told by the first one that she had been evading arrest. She was held for 24 hours and charged with that crime.
Her lawyers are requesting all charges be dropped and for those involved to be punished appropriately.
https://twitter.com/CarmenSierraaa/status/867170450408968192
