A Commerce, Texas police chief unexpectedly resigned following the controversial May arrest of a former Miss Black Texas.
According to FOX 4 News, on Monday Commerce Police Chief Kerry Crews quit his job a month after he arrested Carmen Ponder for evading detention after an alleged road rage incident that led to him calling her a “Black b-tch.”
As we previously reported, Ponder and her attorney claim that the incident started when Ponder was driving behind Crews. After noticing that the car was drifting from lane to lane and abruptly stopped several times, Ponder did what she said most drivers would do—”politely signaled and went around the sporadic driver.” Apparently, he was illegally teaching his 14-year-old daughter to drive.
Soon after, she pulled into the Walmart parking lot, but was was stopped by Crews. He then began to accost her, demanding to know why she drove past his car. Ponder tried to ignore the situation and walk into the store, which prompted Crews to say “Whatever you Black Bitch!”
When Ponder came out of the store, she saw that Crews had called in police back-up. She was then told that she better apologize and when she didn’t, she was grabbed,handcuffed and taken into custody. Ponder even had to spend a night in jail.
Thankfully, the charges against Ponder were later dropped.
In a written statement to the town’s mayor, Crews wrote: “It was my understanding that officers had been called, but I felt that it was something that I could handle. I was wrong. As a result of being off-duty I was unprepared for the response I received from Ms. Ponder, and I became emotional.”
“I do not feel that I can continue to bear the weight of the police chief position.”
While Crews may no longer be their police chief, he has plans to keep working for the city in a newly-created position as an assistant to the city manager, FOX 4 News noted.
Meanwhile, Ponder and her attorney are still pursuing a civil lawsuit as they believe Crew’s actions were racially motivated, despite the fact that an investigation exonerated Crews of any racially motivated actions.
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