By Police1 Staff
SARALAND, Ala. — An Alabama police department is defending the three officers seen in a viral video arresting a woman at a Waffle House.
According to the Philadelphia Tribune, a cellphone video showing officers subduing Chikesia Clemons as she resisted arrest on Sunday has sparked outcry online, with some calling the officers racist and overly aggressive.
The Saraland Police Department defended the officers and said the LEOs acted appropriately.
On Monday, the department released more details along with a 911 call and security footage of the incident. A Waffle House employee originally called police because two women and a man were “drunk and disorderly” and had arrived at the restaurant with alcohol and refused to throw it away.
Detective Brian Mims said Clemons and her friend, Canita Adams, were cursing and threatening the employees.
“‘You ain’t going to be here tomorrow,’” Mims said the women told employees. “‘I may have a gun. I may have anything. I can come back up here and shoot this place up if I need to.’”
Mims said Clemons refused to comply with their orders when they arrived and resisted placing her hands behind her back. The detective said race played no role in the incident.
“Based on the interviews conducted,” he said, “it was based solely on that they were asked to take their beverages out and not to consume them on premises.”
https://www.facebook.com/FOX10News/videos/10156463315803944/
Clemons’ mother told the Birmingham News that the incident started when the women asked for plastic utensils. The waitress told them that it would cost 50 cents extra, which Clemons and Adams objected to and asked to get a supervisor’s name to file a complaint.
Waffle House on Monday also defended the officers involved in the arrest, according to Fox News. In a statement, Waffle House spokesman Greg Rollings said it has information that “differs significantly” from the information provided by Clemons.
“After reviewing our security video of the incident and eyewitness accounts, police intervention was appropriate,” the statement said.