Mourning While Black: Heartbroken Mom Handcuffed By Police As She Grieves The Loss Of Her Daughter

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A Twitter user named Richard Brookshire took to the platform on Monday to reveal his tragic eyewitness account of his sister’s detainment merely hours after the loss of her four-year-old daughter.

https://twitter.com/crtv_drctr/status/1196191965844508674?s=20

In a series of tweets, Brookshire described the account which took place on Sunday evening, a day after his family rushed to West Memphis, Arkansas, to be by his sister’s side as she prepared to bury her child who was killed in a tragic car accident.

“Last night, @westmemphispd cops accosted and attempted to arrest my grieving sister for STANDING OUTSIDE OF OUR HOTEL AND MOURNING THE LOSS OF HER DEAD DAUGHTER. Threw her to the ground, put her in handcuffs and put their knee on her back, throwing her in a police car,” he wrote.

https://twitter.com/crtv_drctr/status/1196414248613810176?s=20

According to Brookshire, after family members left his sister outside to take a breath of fresh air from the overwhelming despair of making funeral arrangements, she was surrounded and approached by several officers from the West Memphis Police Department. After she informed the officers that her identification was upstairs in her hotel room, the incident quickly escalated.

https://twitter.com/crtv_drctr/status/1196414265101606915?s=20

Brookshire said his family ran downstairs after his sister called them via her cell phone and screamed for help. As the family approached the scene in an attempt to free their loved one from the grasp of police, Brookshire said an officer wielded a taser weapon towards him, in an attempt to signal that he could be next. Brookshire said he and his family stood helpless as she lay face down on the ground with an officer’s knee in her back, even as they tried to convince the cops that she was innocent and grieving the loss of her daughter.

https://twitter.com/crtv_drctr/status/1196414273729241089?s=20

Police reportedly told Brookshire that they handcuffed his sister because numerous car robberies occurred in the area over the course of the last few weeks. But Brookshire said after his sister was released, they went to corroborate the officer’s account regarding the car burglaries and was told by hotel staff that there were no break-ins for over a month.

https://twitter.com/crtv_drctr/status/1196414285934727171?s=20

As 2018 was filled with numerous accounts of Black cisgendered men and women along with Black members of the LGBTQ community facing state sanctioned abuse and death, Brookshire’s horrifying account shows the everyday horrors of living in a Black body, while mourning an overwhelming loss. Black people are not even allowed to grieve in peace without the threat of imminent danger and death.

If you want to help Brookshire and his family by donating to a GoFundMe account to cover the cost of funeral arrangements, click here.