Texas police chief resigns amid controversy tied to arrest of Carmen Ponder, Miss Black Texas Ambassador
Kerry Crews, the police chief of Commerce, Texas, has resigned after the controversial arrest of a Black woman last month who claimed she was called a “black bitch.”
Carmen Ponder, a pre-law student at Texas A&M University-Commerce and the 2016 Miss Black Texas US Ambassador, claims that she was approached by two men after she signaled and drove around a car that was driving erratically. It turns out that Commerce ISD school board trustee Michael Beane was illegally teaching his 14-year-old daughter how to drive and didn’t appreciate Ponder doing the right thing and getting out of harm’s way.
Tomorrow Commerce City Council holds a special session- let me not keep you in suspense-they're going to reinstate Crews w/ no punishment pic.twitter.com/eLM6E11rVQ
— Lee Merritt (@MerrittForTexas) June 26, 2017
After pulling into a Walmart parking lot, Beane approached Ponder and chastised her for her actions, allegedly calling her a “black bitch” before Ponder went about her day. When she left the store, Crews approached her and demanded she apologize to Beane. He was off-duty at the time, according to Dallas News.
In his resignation letter, which was read at a city council meeting, Crews argued that he didn’t see Ponder’s race or gender during their interactions – no surprise here – and incorrectly thought he could handle the situation,
“It had nothing to do with her race or gender, or anything other than what I felt was her disrespect of my position as an officer and as the police chief,” Crews said. “This emotional response was not the result of a single event or interaction. The past several years have been difficult in the city of Commerce, and they have worn on me.”
Regardless, he still charged her with evading arrest and detained her in jail for 24 hours. Her charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence.
The Root reports that Crews will be heading into a new position as assistant to the city manager, which he created with local officials. In other words, he’s getting a slap on the wrist only to take a new job that doesn’t really exist. Nepotism knows no bounds.