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Texas Police Respond To Viral Photo Of Officers Walking Black Man On Leash

Texas Police Respond To Viral Photo Of Officers Walking Black Man On Leash

Hot97 Staff
08/08/2019 12:00 AM EDT

Photo credit – AndreyBayda/Shutterstock

The disrespect is real! Is it 2019 or 1819?

We live in a country where white men armed with AK-47’s, kill innocent people and get treated better by authorities than black men already in handcuffs.

Earlier this week a picture went viral of two Texas police officers on horses while a black man Donald Neely, 48, walked beside them, handcuffed and on a leash. This sparked a lot of anger and frustration. Neely was treated like an animal instead of a human being.

Neely, has a mental illness according to a report. His sister wrote a lengthy message on FB addressing the situation.

“Imagine scrolling [Facebook] and seeing said loved one being escorted to jail on foot by 2 officers on horses, hands cuffed behind his back with a rope attached,” she said. “In 2019???? He was treated like an animal paraded through the streets by two incompetent assholes!”

Neely received an apology for the officers’ behavior from Galveston Police Chief Vernon L. Hale III.

“First and foremost, I must apologize to Mr. Neely for this unnecessary embarrassment,” Hale said in a statement posted to Facebook. “Although this is a trained technique and best practice in some scenarios, I believe our officers showed poor judgment in this instance and could have waited for a transport unit at the location of arrest.”

The “apology” wasn’t good enough for a lot of civil rights activists and many people feel if Neel was white, he wouldn’t have been treated that way.

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