A Black woman in Michigan has filed a civil rights suit against a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy for racially discriminating against her when responding to a physical altercation, according to CNN. The woman got into it with a white couple outside a liquor store. While confronting the woman, the deputy was caught on body camera claiming he’s “blacker” than her.
According to the store surveillance video, Tracy Douglas, 59, dinged the side of a pickup truck while trying to get it into her vehicle. The white woman in the pickup truck argued with Douglas and the two began fighting. The white woman’s boyfriend got involved, punching Douglas in the eye. That’s when Monroe County sheriff deputy Jack Hall showed up.
Here’s how the interaction went per CNN:
The video begins with the White deputy warning Douglas, who appears to have blood on her shirt, “you’re going on the ground,” if she touches the deputy again. She responds, “Am I really? Because I’m Black?” Hall retorts, “what the f*** does that have to do with anything?”
He then instructs Douglas to sit in his car and asks her where she is from. After she says she’s from Temperance, Michigan, he says “OK, I’m from Detroit, so I’m probably more Black than you, so you want to play the race card?”
More Black? I don’t care how many cookouts he’s been invited to or what predominantly Black neighborhood he grew up in: being from Detroit don’t mean a damn thing.
The deputy told CNN Douglas grabbed him several times to get his attention on the man who punched her. Hall then forced her to the ground, as seen in the footage. Meanwhile, in the background the man laughed at the black-and-blue he gave her.
“I drilled her. Drilled her like a champ, dude. She was beating on my girlfriend on the ground,” he’s heard saying in the footage. Per Fox 2 Detroit, the man faces aggravated assault charges but Douglas was also charged with assault and battery.
Douglas’ attorney, Darnell Barton, said even though she was the victim of the situation, the deputy didn’t treat her like one. The damages sought from the civil suit have not been specified.