Police in Arkansas arrested a grieving mother who lost her 4-year-old daughter in a car accident less than a week ago.
According to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, two West Memphis police officers approached Shawnda Brookshire in the parking lot of La Quinta Inn & Suites and asked her to show her room key, but the incident ended with the woman getting handcuffed.
Dashcam video shows what happened after police approached the woman and the situation escalating. The footage begins with the mother telling the officers to turn on their camera and the police trying to calm her down as she frantically tries to reach her family on the phone.
The woman becomes more frustrated when no one picks up.
The officer is then heard saying, "you’re about to go to jail for disorderly."
The mother then says, "yeah and miss my daughter’s funeral because you want to lock me up while I’m walking in a parking lot."
While the police continue to ask her for name, the woman tells them that she has to get her ID from her hotel room. When her family finally answers the phone, the woman urges them to hurry to get her because the police are trying to arrest her.
"The police are trying to arrest me. Get down here right now," she said as the officer keeps telling her to stop yelling. "Get down, right here, right now. Now. The police are outside. They're f**king white."
The woman then screams as she is getting arrested while still talking to her family on the phone.
"We got the call from my sister and we ran down as quickly as we could," the woman's brother, Richard Brookshire, told WREG "I come outside and I see a cop with my sister handcuffed on the ground with his knee on her back, and I scream, 'Her daughter just died.'”
Brookshire also explained the incident on Twitter on Wednesday, saying he had flown to Arkansas to help his sister make funeral arrangements after her daughter just died on Saturday.
"My sister needed fresh air after such an emotional day and decided to take some calls outside," he tweeted. "She spoke on the phone for about an hour when random officers rolled up flashing lights in her face in the middle of her call with my dead niece’s father."
My sister needed fresh air after such an emotional day and decided to take some calls outside. She spoke on the phone for about an hour when random officers rolled up flashing lights in her face in the middle of her call with my dead niece’s father.
— Richard Brookshire (@crtv_drctr) November 18, 2019
Assistant Chief Robert Langston said officers went to check the area because motel management reported break-ins.
"I understand she was under a great deal of stress and I have never been in the situation that she’s in. I can’t speak for her," Langston told WREG. "I can understand the stress that she was dealing with, and that the family was dealing with, but our officers don’t know that. They don’t know what the family is going through. We’re there to really to protect their property.”
Brookshire said in his tweets that there hasn't been break-ins in the parking lot of the motel for over a month.
"Not only was she no where near the parking lot, we’ve spoken to hotel staff, and found out that there have been no break-ins for over a month," he tweeted. "Her failure to provide I.D. was enough for them to place her in handcuffs even when they simply could have verified with the front desk."
Not only was she no where near the parking lot, we’ve spoken to hotel staff, and found out that there have been no break-ins for over a month. Her failure to provide I.D. was ‘enough’ for them to place her in handcuffs even when they simply could have verified with the front desk
— Richard Brookshire (@crtv_drctr) November 18, 2019
Police said the officers will not face any disciplinary action, and the mother has been released with no charges. Brookshire's family has filed a formal complaint against officers and created a GoFundMe for the late 4-year-old's funeral services. Blavity has reached out to the West Memphis Police Department for comment but has yet to get in contact with anyone.
