Four Austin Cops Participate in Arrest of One Jaywalking Jogger for “Failure to Identify”

Who will be the last person to get
arrested on a bs charge? An arrest in Austin for “failure to
identify,”
via the Daily Texan:

“I was sitting at the Starbucks at 24th and San
Antonio,” [witness Chris] Quintero said. “Then I hear a cop shout
at an innocent girl jogging through West Campus with her headphones
on.”

When the woman did not stop, the officer grabbed her by the arm and
quickly placed her in handcuffs, Quintero said.

“She repeatedly pleaded with them, saying that she was just
exercising and to let her go,” Quintero said.

In footage of the incident that Quintero filmed, the woman can be
seen attempting to get up from the ground and being kept down by
police officers. 

“I was doing nothing wrong,” the woman said from her position
sitting on the sidewalk. “I was crossing the
street.” 

Two more cops on bikes showed up to help get the woman into the
squad car. A police spokesperson insisted Austin police don’t
specifically target jaywalkers. The jogger was instead reportedly
charged with “failing to provide identification,” a charge that
seems like the kind largely on the book to give police the leeway
to arrest someone not doing anything sufficiently illegal.

Related
must-read Brian Doherty on how jaywalking and other petty law
enforcement disproportionately affects the poor. Watch some footage
of the arrest below:

h/t Gwen Dallas