This is one of those horrific
stories.
A black woman, 33 years of age,
she's in the car with her father.
There are three children in this
vehicle.
They pull over to simply switch
seats, because,
sometimes people who are driving,
they get tired of driving and
another person will start driving.
Well, they pulled over to do
this, and
they were confronted by the police.
But this ended up in the woman
being knocked out and being
arrested even though she committed
absolutely no crime, whatsoever.
The body camera footage from Solano
County show deputies beat a black
woman unconscious, all right?
And proceeded to lie about it
according to a new federal lawsuit
that has been filed.
The events unfolded as Nakia Porter
and her 61-year-old father where
making the 100-mile drive home
to Orangevale,
northeast of Sacramento,
after a family trip to Oakland.
This is a family affair.
Her two daughters, ages three and
six, and four-year-old niece were
in the backseat.
I want you to remember the ages of
these children.
Porter was behind the wheel when
they stopped along an empty road in
Dixon.
The deputies' squad car pulled up
behind them, with lights flashing.
Porter already was out of the car
and explained that they were just
switching drivers and
would be on their way,
according to the court filing.
Now they claim this all happened
because of having mismatched
plates.
Let me remind everyone, no criminal
activity took place whatsoever.
The plate that the deputy called in
to dispatch matched the vehicle,
no issue there.
But here's what I wanted.
I want to go to that first video.
>> Read me my rights.
>> King 6, stars and third.
>> Excuse me ma'am, ma'am. >> Put
your hands behind your back.
Put your hands behind your back.
>> I am not arrested. >> King 6,
stars and third. >> Bless me,
they are approaching me and
putting me on the car with force.
So those that are listening,
I am not resisting arrest.
You have two different plates on
your vehicle. >> Two different
plates but you're pressing on me.
You're not reading me my rights.
>> You're not listening.
>> What are you doing?
>> God bless me.
>> Put your hands behind your back.
>> Bless me God.
>> Put your hands behind your back.
>> Put your hands behind your
back, now.
Get on your stomach.
Get on your stomach, now.
You're going to get tased.
>> She then goes unconscious.
The police officer actually makes
a mention that she is unconscious.
Let me give you some more
background to this story.
Porter and the court filing allege
the deputies punched her in
the head and the stomach, kneeled
on her back and pulled her hair.
She says she passed out seconds
after the deputies closed
the handcuffs.
Porter, who is five foot two, and
125 pounds,
says she was dragged unconscious to
the back of the squad car where she
came to about five minutes later.
Now, remember,
these police officers,
these deputies, they are well aware
that she is unconscious, okay?
That's an important part of
this story.
When the paramedics arrived,
the arresting deputy
Dalton McCampbell is heard saying,
Porter fought them.
Never happened.
Was knocked out for
about 20 seconds and was able to
walk herself to the squad car.
Deputy Lisa McDowell estimates
to the paramedics that Porter was
unconscious for
about five seconds, all lies,
according to the court filing.
Porter requested that
she be transported to a hospital,
according to the lawsuit.
Deputies McCampbell and McDowell
denied the request, continuing to
lie to the paramedics by minimizing
the assault and the injuries they
had inflicted on Ms. Porter,
according to the court filings.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I want to remind you, again,
there are three children inside of
that vehicle.
And let me go to the parental side
because I'm a dad myself.
This father has to watch,
powerless, as his little girl is
being unlawfully assaulted by these
monsters.
They lie on their police report.
They misrepresent what happened.
They lie to the paramedics.
Thankfully, the video evidence
contradicted the fabricated facts.
According to the attorney,
Yasin Almadani, said, so that what
occurred here, we believe,
was racially motivated, beating and
terrorizing of a black family.
Porter also said,
by the way, remember she's 33,
she said I was doing my best to do
everything right, giving no reason
to be treated like this.
Let's be very clear about
what's happening in America.
Over 90% of Americans believe that
police reform must take place.
58% believe it must be dramatic.
Hell, even 51% of Republicans
believe that police reform must
take place.
Keep in mind that based on policy,
all of these cops were
in violation.
Based on written policy, you will
find this is not the way they're
supposed to do their jobs, okay?
That's written policy.
But when you have a culture,
adversarial to the policy,
culture will eat policy alive
every day, and
that's exactly what you're seeing.
Infraction is nothing without
enforcement.
It's not enough to simply have
a policy that is written or
a rule that is available for
others to see,
if you're not willing to enforce
these policies and rules against
those who are supposed to be
the authorities of law enforcement.
So, the charges were dropped,
she was arrested, the charges were
dropped, the license tag matched
the vehicle, they knew it was not
stolen, and it still did not stop
these SOBs from taking this
33-year-old mother to jail.
Nina, what are your thoughts
here, sister?
>> I mean, I'm holding back
the tears.
That first of all,
there should have never been any
charges against Ms. Porter.
She did nothing wrong.
You're right about,
this generational thing that's
happening.
So it's her father on one side,
and then it's her babies being
traumatized on the other side.
And thank God for the camera,
because but for the camera, their
lies probably would have prevailed.
And I certainly believe in this,
look, we can't even get to
George Floyd Act.
Let me remind folks,
has not passed yet
in the United States Congress, but
I digress.
I think for
law enforcement officers who lie on
their reports,
it should be a felony offense.
Let's start making sure that
there's some real consequences to
the actions of these type of law
enforcement officers who make it
bad for law enforcement officers
who really do believe
in the oath to protect and serve.
Ms. Porter didn't deserve this.
Her family didn't deserve this, and
I hope she wins in court and
these officers need to be fired.
>> Yeah, let me add onto that.
Look, guys,
she was a software engineer.
Now, it doesn't matter what she is.
She didn't do anything wrong and
nobody deserves that no
matter what their job is.
But I tell you that because,
unfortunately in this country we
have to humanize minorities.
Otherwise, people don't
treat them that way.
First thing that a lot of folks
ask is, what were they up to?
They were up to switching drivers.
>> Black while switching drivers.
>> But the cops, look, what Rashad
said is an absolute stonecold fact.
The cops had already run
the plates.
They knew
that the car was not stolen and
there was no infraction at all.
Now, imagine,
let's take a different race, okay?
Let's go Asian, okay?
I partly felt,
because my wife is Asian, and
I always try to empathize with
whatever we're talking about,
any situation, right?
And I thought, my god, my wife and
I have switched positions,
how many times, because we're
normal human beings, right?
And imagine if our kids are in
the car and my wife goes to switch,
and then these cops come and
randomly question us.
Already questioning us would
be weird, but then if they said,
you got two different plates.
Okay, great no problem,
we'll explain that, right?
But instead of asking,
they draw their guns and then they
smash her onto the ground and
did you see, I mean, the part that
broke my heart most, I mean, every
part of it is disgusting, was when
they started pulling on her hair.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> I mean for what is she, I mean,
and the other reason I bring up
that she's a software engineer,
her dad, by the way, worked in
computer networking, is because
there isn't anything you can do.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter what
you do, right?
For, as we talked about earlier in
the show, for
Trayvon Martin they found out that
he had once had detention.
I had detention dozens of times,
right?
And so, for
every one that they assault,
they then blame, right?
But she couldn't have
done anything more.
And if you noticed in the video,
the part where they
got super violent is when she said,
you haven't even read me my rights.
And so, now, think about that,
you have rights, but if you ever
dare mention them, you're going to
get assaulted worse.
There's just no winning,
there's no winning.
How could we not empathize
with that?
How could you not think there, but
for the grace of God go I, or
my wife, or my sister, or
my mother?
And this is a thing that you see,
maybe, once here, but
it happens over and over again.
And thank God for those cameras
because they lied through and
through in that report.
And once you see the the video,
it turns out every part of it was
wrong.
And, again, guys, by the way,
seeing these videos or
sharing these videos
makes a difference, too.
In Selma, Alabama the number one
thing that civil rights leaders
were concerned about was, we hope
to reporters take a good picture.
because they knew they were
going to get beat, and
they did get beat.
They knew they were going to get
a cavalry charge and
they did get a cavalry charge.
But the important thing was for
the rest of the country to see it,
because it had been happening for,
not just decades, but for
hundreds of years- >> That's right.
>> Right?
>> That's right.
>> And the problem was that nobody
was seeing it, nobody was seeing
it, and now you're seeing it.
So, for God's sake, do something.
Nina, that wasn't a tangent,
you're right.
So the act is named
after George Floyd.
>> Yeah. >> Nowhere, nothing.
>> Not even in the discussion and
then you got folks talking about,
we're going to put 100,000 more,
attached into the infrastructure
bill, we're going to put 100,000
more police out
there when that dealing with public
safety is a universal thing.
It's safety, it's jobs,
it's schools,
it's not just simply putting more
law enforcement out on the street.
And you know what, Cenk, why do we
always have to qualify me?
You named her profession,
I know why you're doing it, but
there is something wrong in even
that, that we gotta give some extra
quantification.
We gotta quantify the type of
profession that she's in to
humanize her.
Everybody should be
outraged by this.
And Dr. Ritchie you bring up
a really good point about the fact
that they broke protocol within
their own department.
That should be enough right there.
>> Yup.
>> And guys, look, to that point,
they jailed her overnight after
they viciously assaulted her for
just changing seats in a car.
And they said the suspicion of
resisting arrest.
But what was she being arrested
for, in the first place?
You knew that the car
wasn't stolen.
You knew there was no crime.
When you see resisting arrest with
no underlying charge, it's
a guarantee that the cop is lying.
It's a guarantee that it was
a false arrest.
And so, she got arrested, but
they didn't.
>> That's right.
>> So, she didn't do anything wrong
and you saw with your own eyes
that they did.
Those guys should, definitely,
be arrested.
There is no question that was
an assault.