Dr. Ersula Ore, an English professor at Arizona State University, never expected when she crossed a street on campus that an officer would demand her identification, ticket her, and eventually assault her with brute force. See the full video below the fold. It's hard to imagine a similar scenario with a white woman on campus playing out in the same way, and the incident is similar to when Dr. Henry Louis Gates, also an African American, confronted by a white officer,
was wrongly arrested by Harvard Police while trying to get into his own home on campus.
After an unbiased investigation found that Officer Stewart Ferrin wrongly confronted, cited, and assaulted Dr. Ore, he resigned just moments before he could be fired—a technicality that may keep the ordeal off of his record.
According to the Arizona Republic:
An Arizona State University police officer who has been fighting to keep his job resigned instead Monday after an independent investigation found fault with his arrest last summer of a university professor.
In a letter to the officer from ASU Police Chief, Michael Thompson, it was made clear that Dr. Ersula Ore should never have been arrested or cited for jaywalking in the first place:
Your rigid, power-based approach to law enforcement and unwillingness to exercise discretion and sound judgment culminated in you arresting Dr. Ore without a lawful basis. In doing so, your actions brought discredit to yourself and ASUPD.
An independent report paid for by Arizona State University, also confirmed:
Ferrin committed multiple ASU police- and university-policy violations when arresting Ore, including those involving judgment, legal authority, search and seizure, alternatives to arrest and code of conduct.
The officer had no reasonable basis for arresting the professor for obstructing a road when she was walking down the street, and he wrongfully arrested her for refusing to provide ID, according to the report. The investigation says a pedestrian can cross the road as long as he or she yields to vehicles, and evidence suggests Ore yielded to the officer's patrol car.
In June 2012, while a police recruit in the academy, Ferrin received a letter of reprimand for untruthfulness, insubordination and code-of-conduct violations.