A Fort Knox, Texas, Army sergeant is fighting back after she was charged for assaulting a woman who she claims initiated a physical altercation.
Sergeant Kai Waters is facing a felony assault charge for a road rage incident but insists she was a victim of profiling.
“I’m worried,” she told WAVE3. “I’m concerned, I’m scared and I’m terrified.”
Waters was driving to her home on February 22 when another driver began to act erratically.
“She started honking her horn and pulled next to me,” Waters recalled. When Waters rolled down her window, the older white woman began to yell racial slurs.
“She called me a Black b—-, and said ‘your kind,’" Waters said. “She said, ‘I’m so tired of your people’ and all this.”
Waters claimed the woman bumped her car, so she pulled into a gas station parking lot to call the police. What happened next was caught by a security camera, according to Army Times. The video shows the other driver running to the driver’s side of Waters’ vehicle. Waters wasn’t entirely out of the car when the woman began to hit her.
Blavitize your inbox! Join our daily newsletter for fresh stories and breaking news.
A struggle ensued, and Waters eventually stabbed the woman with a knife she received as a military award. Despite the wound, the woman continued to charge at Waters. Waters was on the phone with a 911 operator during the entire altercation, but she was still arrested when the police arrived. Waters posted the video on her Facebook page to prove her innocence.
“Not one officer asking me what happened,” she wrote. “No one asked for my statement. Each time I tried to speak, I was hushed.”
Waters believes she was targeted because of her race.
“As a soldier and a senior non-commissioned officer, and a Black female, it was clear that I was automatically identified as the assailant,” she wrote.
Waters was charged with second-degree assault. A grand jury reviewed the case on March 8 and will decide if the charges will be dropped or if there will be a trial. Even if the jury clears her, the Army could still press charges. She’s currently on leave, but Lt. Col. Alicia Masson, Waters' superior, defended the soldier in a statement.
“She is a trusted leader and this turn of events is in total contradiction to her performance and character,” Masson said in a statement. "I understand the police department has a job to do but now that the truth is seen by video that our soldier was attacked, I hope there will be swift correction to this situation and her rights returned. I stand behind her and am anxious for justice.”
There is also a GoFundMe fundraiser for her legal fees.
Attorney Jeremy Aldridge, who is representing Waters, believes the video is sufficient proof of her innocence.
“I trust that the grand jury would have a very difficult time indicting her (Waters) based on the conduct that is provable by the video,” he said.
The other driver told WAVE she wanted to share her side, but her attorney told her to stay quiet.
Now, check these out:
