Sammie Anderson and her sons being brutalized by cops, as seen on dashcam video
DeSoto, TX — An African-American mother named Sammie Anderson from Texas who called 911 to ask for help from the police said those who responded brutalized them instead. When two of Sammie’s sons got into a heated argument, she feared they might seriously hurt each other so she tried to seek help from the police. However, the police used excessive force on them, a dashcam video shows.
The altercation was over by the time DeSoto police arrived on the scene. A dashcam video also shows the officers came to a peaceful scene. Anderson can even be heard telling the cops, “No one is fighting.”
Still and all, the cops jumped out of the police car with weapons drawn, yelled for everyone to face down on the ground to be handcuffed, and used force when some tried to move around, as seen on the dashcam video released by the police department following the demands of civil rights activists.
Anderson also said her sons were tased repeatedly even though they were not resisting and already lying on the ground screaming in pain. She added that she had sprained her shoulder and ankle after she was slammed to the pavement so hard.
“It was the worst nightmare I could ever imagine,” Anderson told WFAA.
She noted that her four sons have never had trouble with the police before.
“I taught them to always say, ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’ to police officers,” Anderson said. “I was always proud that my sons had never been in trouble with the law and I always raised them to stay out of trouble and do their best to be a productive citizen. And respect officers and all of those around them, always.”
She has now filed a brutality complaint against the six officers who responded on that night, namely Courie Bryant, Patrick Krekel, Kendall McGill, Ryan Money, Bryan Scott-Lee and Larry Walker.
The complaint also claims that police falsely arrested two of her sons on charges of interfering with officers and suspicion of domestic violence.
DeSoto Police Chief Joseph Costa, however, believes his officers did nothing wrong. According to the transcript of the second 911 call released by the police department, the caller told the dispatcher who kept asking if anyone had a weapon that one of the sons had a sledgehammer. In that case, the officers had to “take control,” the police chief said.
“With the information I have and relative to the video you have, our officers acted appropriately to the incident they responded to,” Costa added.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the incident had been very devastating to the family. Anderson, who suffered from bruises and sprains, and two of her sons, who were still in jail the day after the incident, couldn’t show up for work so they lost their jobs. Moreover, they are struggling financially because of legal expenses and medical bills.
“We never saw the police as bad guys,” Anderson said. “When I saw them I hugged them. That’s what’s so hurtful. Everything I taught my sons they destroyed in one night.”
Watch the raw footage below: