California Cops Push Pregnant Black Woman To Ground But Let White Woman Go (Video)

Police officers with the Barstow, California, police department have been exonerated of any wrongdoing in an incident which occurred in January of this year. They had been under investigation for forcefully pushing a pregnant black woman to the ground.

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Image Via dwendt212

The incident began when a white woman called police to report that she was having a dispute with?Charlena Michelle Cooks, an African-American woman who was 8 months pregnant at the time. The woman said Cooks was acting “all crazy.”

Police then talked to Cooks, who said the argument had been about the unidentified white woman driving recklessly in a parking lot and scaring her young daughter. Cooks also tells the officers:

?She called the police for whatever reason, I don’t know. Should I feel threatened by her because she’s white? Because she’s white and she’s making threats to me??

One of the officers then asks Cooks her name and she says she is not required to provide that information to the police. Seconds later, the police have Cooks in a wristlock and begin to push her to the ground.

As she is forced to the pavement, Cooks can be heard yelling:

?Please! I’m pregnant!?

Did Cooks have a right to refuse giving her name or showing identification to the police? Yes she did, according to?ACLU staff attorney Adrienna Wong:

?It would be a wrongful arrest, but it would be an arrest.?Even if an officer is conducting an investigation, in California, unlike some other states, he can’t just require a person to provide ID for no reason.?Officers in California should not be using the obstruction law, Penal Code 148, to arrest someone for failing to provide ID, when they can’t find any other reason to arrest them.?

A month after the confrontation with the Barstow police officers, Cooks gave birth to a daughter without any complications, but she says she is considering further legal action:

?I’m still trying to process everything and get in a good state of mind.?I’m in a very fearful state of mind. Barstow is so small and I used to be comfortable living here. Not anymore. I really felt like after all that happened I had some of my everyday freedoms taken from me.?I don’t think I’ve ever been that terrified in my life.?I never saw that coming. I told him I was pregnant so he could proceed with caution. That didn’t happen and the first thing I thought was I didn’t want to fall to the ground. I felt the pressure on my stomach from falling and I was calling for help. But those guys are supposed to help me. But who is supposed to help me when they are attacking me??

Watch The Video Of This Incident