Cop Manhandles Jaywalking ASU Prof, Slams Her to the Ground, Charges Her With Assault

A police encounter in Tempe, Arizona, over the
weekend turned ugly after a campus police officer wrestled Arizona
State University professor Ersula Ore to the ground. Video footage
shows the officer attempting to pull Ore’s hands behind her back
and pin her against the dashboard before slamming her onto the
ground in the middle of the street.

Ore’s crime, evidently, was jaywalking in the middle of the
night.

The video footage is available at
azfamily.com. It depicts Ore arguing with the officer, Stewart
Ferrin, off camera. She objected to being stopped and claimed that
people cross the street—which is under construction—all the time.
Nevertheless, the officer insisted on Ore providing him with her
ID. After she took issue with his disrespectful tone and refused
the demand, he attempted to place her under arrest.

After being yanked onto her feet again, Ore gave Ferrin a kick
to the shin. She is now being charged with aggravated assault.

Vice
described the incident as a “cop assaulting a black ASU
professor”:

Ferrin stopped Ore for walking in a traffic thoroughfare. “I’ve
been here for over three years and everybody walks this street… I
never once saw a single solitary individual get pulled over by a
cop for walking across a street on a campus,” Ore told the officer
before pointing out how the sidewalk was obstructed by
construction.

Ferrin then told her to put her hands behind her back and
threatened to “slam” her on his car when she refused to show her
ID, objecting expressly to the officer’s disrespectful approach.
Ferrin threw Ore violently to the ground, leaving her dress hiked
up, her body exposed. He and another officer then dragged her to
her feet, at which point she kicked Ferrin in the shin. Now she
faces the felony assault charge, which she plans to fight.

Ferrin’s lawyer is claiming that her client was molested by the
officer while he had her pinned on the ground, off camera. The kick
was therefore self-defense.

Whether or not that defense holds up, Ferrin’s behavior toward
Ore certainly seems unnecessary, given the trivial nature of her
supposed crime.

Watch the video below.