Black Louisiana Woman Charged with a Hate Crime after Calling Officer ‘Racist’

A black woman in Louisiana is accused of calling a white Baton Rouge police officer "racist" leading a hate crime charge along with other charges according to BR Proud.

The whole situation began to unfold on the morning of Sunday, August 6 as a woman reportedly called the Baton Rouge 911 system repeatedly demanding that an officer come out to a Baton Rouge apartment so that she could get her items from the dwelling. According to an affidavit, this officer had previously, on a different occasion taken the woman to the complex.

During the prior contact, the affidavit says that the officer told 43-year-old Crystal Harris that she would need to contact the constable's office to set a time to get her belongings if she wasn't able to get them. Then multiple calls came into the emergency system from Harris on Sunday morning.

In all Harris has been charged with the following:

Hate Crimes

Illegal Use of 911 Emergency Communication System

Resisting a Police Officer with Force or Violence

Public Intimidation and Retaliation

False Communication with the Intent to Cause and Emergency Response

Misrepresentation During Booking

All 911 calls are recorded. The dispatchers told the officer that Harris not only had been calling repeatedly, but they said she had also been aggressive. The affidavit also states that dispatchers told Harris the woman was claiming that she was going to continue to call until an officer came out to the scene.

Once at the scene, the officer says Harris was told she had already been instructed on how to go about getting her things back. He also added that no one was going to help her break into a locked apartment unit.

While in the car after Harris was arrested, the officer wrote in the affidavit that the woman allegedly,

....made multiple comments about the officer being white and that was the reason for her arrest, called the officer a racist a**mother****** and a union ni**a boy.

The Hate Crimes in Louisiana is rather lengthy. Part of the law states, in part,

It shall be unlawful for any person to select the victim of the following offenses against person and property because of actual or perceived....or because of actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel...

The woman refused to get out of the patrol car at the jail, and while being transferred reportedly dared the officer "to put hands on her".

Baton Rouge Police officials say the woman reportedly refused to be fingerprinted several times as well.

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