The Police Department in Austin, Texas, recently released body cam footage from an incident that took place on March 2nd. The incident, which happened at around 2am, shows a police officer slamming a transgender woman to the ground. A large amount of blood is seen where her face hit the pavement.
Most of the time when police departments release bodycam footage, it’s usually edited or shot from a certain angle that won’t be damning for law enforcement. The narrative the police are telling in this case is that the victim in question tried to resist, and the officer accidentally knocked her to the ground due to her awkward movements.
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Unfortunately for them, we have a video shot by a bystander that clearly shows the officer intentionally slamming her to the ground.
“This is how they treat trans people,” one witness can be heard saying in the background
I wish I could say this is the last time something like this will happen, but recent trends in this country say otherwise. About a month ago, Los Angeles Police took the life of 30-year-old Trans Woman Linda Becerra Moran. Moran called 911 to report she had been a victim of sex trafficking.
The LAPD justified the shooting when she slowly approached officers with a knife, but what people tend to overlook is that before she got agitated and grabbed said knife, multiple male police officers were seen hovering around her in her motel room.
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She called 911 to report that she was a victim of sex trafficking. Cops shot her.
Keep in mind this is a person reporting they’ve been the victim of sex trafficking. The police did not take the necessary precautions to ensure the victim didn’t feel threatened, and for that, I feel like there needs to be accountability. For too long, law enforcement agencies have dodged responsibility or any reasonable accountability, and now they’re being emboldened to target the trans community by our nation’s current leader.
We are starting to see the effects of the Trump administration’s promotion of transphobic ideology and its impact on our community. No one should be killed for the color of their skin, and no one should be killed for being trans.
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