The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in Florida has released video and audio of an arrest made by Deputy Brandon King. Officer King reports that he arrested 53-year-old Julie Edwards after watching her trying to leave a property he was called to—in her own car, a black Lexus—seemingly inebriated. He smelled alcohol on her breath and watched her unsteadily try to walk away from him, and after she refused to submit to Breathalyzer and field sobriety tests, he arrested her and put her into his squad car. From there, BuzzFeed News reports, Ms. Edwards got not only angry, but also truly threatening in the most racist of ways.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office released an edited-together lowlight reel of Ms. Edwards in the back seat of King’s police car.
Edwards: If I don’t find you, somebody else will.
King: Are you going to threaten a law enforcement officer?
Edwards: No … I won’t find you. My KKK people will.
King: Thank you for the threat. I will just add that to the charges against you.
That is the lightest part of Edwards’ rants.
Edwards: Ahh, there ain’t a damn thing wrong with a burning cross in your yard, is there? You fucked with the wrong white people. You fucked up. Hope you don’t have no kids. You know what’s going to happen to you now? You don’t want to know. You’re done. You’re finished.
It did not end there.
Edwards: They’re gonna hurt you bad. You don’t fuck with a white girl. Not like you done. Your eyes will be poked out, you know? You sat here and laughed at me!
King: I wasn’t laughing at all.
And still later, as Officer King checked in with dispatch to say he was bringing Edwards in.
Edwards: KKK got your ass, boy!
She dropped a few N-bombs and said he was going to be “burned.”
Edwards: We will send all you niggers back. Burn the rest of you.
From there she continues to use the N-bomb, possibly making a muddled attack affirmative action, and lamenting the end of slavery. This is followed by yet another threat.
Edwards: My KKK friends will burn your family … you ever been whipped on a whipping post?
At this last part, Officer King is singing along with the radio, probably in the hope of both calming himself down and not hearing the racist screed in the back seat of his car. According to BuzzFeed, Edwards has an arrest history of DUIs and assaults on police officers dating back to 2011. Officer King’s fellow law enforcement praised his ability to keep calm under pressure.
Obviously, there are profound differences in the way cases involving power and race are handled in this country. If this situation had been reversed, if the officer had not been black and the person in the back seat had not been white, recent history shows, the person in custody may not have been afforded the same protection as this woman was.
You can listen to the very brutal cocktail of scary racism and alcohol in the video embedded above, but be warned—it’s awful.