Oregon cops seen pinning down black student for cycling on wrong side in shocking bodycam video
A body camera video released by the Oregon State Police showed a shocking moment when two white police officers violently arrested a black Oregon State University student because she was allegedly riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the road.
The student, Genesis Hansen, 21, was stopped by Oregon State Police trooper Kelly Katsikis on October 13 while she was riding down Northwest 16th Street in Corvallis. The officer stopped Hansen and asked her for identification and attempted to issue her a citation for cycling on the wrong side of the road. When she refused to provide her identification, she was pinned down to the ground and violently arrested by two officers.
The body camera footage of the incident, released by the police department, shows Hansel being arrested on the ground after Katsikis and Corvallis Police Officer Donald Sheldon claimed that she was not cooperating with them.
Hansen, in the 38-minute video, can be heard asking Katsikis questions after he demanded to see her identification. After several minutes of discussion, Katsikis says: "I need you to either give me your identification now or you are going to be under arrest. Do you understand that?"
To which Hansen responds with: "I don't answer questions." The officers then place her arms behind her back as Hansen falls to the ground. The clip then shows both the officers holding her down as they handcuff her.
The incident was seen by multiple witnesses, with a woman yelling: "She’s a young woman, you do not need to be on top of her. She is not resisting. You are so much bigger than her. This type of force is not necessary."
The officers then got Hansen to stand up and took her to a police car. Reports state that she was arrested on charges of resisting arrest and interfering with an officer.
The Oregon State University, after the incident, released a statement, saying: "We remain concerned about what was portrayed occurring in the video. And we have asked that law enforcement policies and practices by Oregon State Police — and other local law enforcement agencies — be examined for evidence of implicit and explicit bias."
The university also said that it has offered support services to their student. Local advocates slammed the officers' actions, with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) demanding that the charges against her be dropped.
NAACP Alaska Oregon Washington State-Area Conference, in a statement, said: "As the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, we view this civil rights violation by state and local law enforcement as another example of racial inequity and excessive use of force imposed on communities of color by law enforcement."
Oregon State Police also released a statement to KLCC after the incident, saying: "As an agency that is committed to eliminating racial profiling and implicit bias in policing, these allegations are being meticulously reviewed and we are compiling as much information as possible. The agency understands the importance of vigorously investigating these allegations and is taking a serious look at the incident."