CBS This Morning
April 30,2021
7:16 a.m. Eastern
STEPHANIE BOTTOM, VICTIM OF POLICE VIOLENCE: You can't hurt vulnerable people. You can't force and brutalize innocent people. If I was guilty for not stopping right away for speeding, that did not call for what you did to me. They need to be held responsible.
DAVID BEGNAUD: Ms. Bottom pleaded guilty to failure to yield to the blue lights. She was also charged with speeding and resisting an officer -- those charges were dismissed. Now, we reached out to the Rowan County sheriff's office and the three responding officers -- we did not hear back. The Salisbury Police Department declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the city of Salisbury told us he cannot comment on pending litigation. It did previously issue a statement saying, quote, "The Salisbury Police Department strives for positive interactions with our residents and visitors."
GAYLE KING: It's hard to even say that with a straight face, David. I mean, after the video that we looked at, those officers, they still have a job on that force? I am so angry and so saddened by what I just saw.
BEGNAUD: Gayle, what was so surprising to me was the attorney saying to me, in the incident report, one of the officers says, "I pulled up on the side of her, and she looks like she might not know what's going on." And that's an indication that they had a heads up before they ever ripped her out of her car.
KING: And they're laughing at her -- they're laughing at her. This is the thing, guys. Black people are not treated with humanity in so many cases, and that's why I'm so sick of it. And I just don't know how many stories we have to see like this. And this is the thing -- this was in 2019 before all of the stories that we now know the names. What were you going to say, Anthony?
ANTHONY MASON: I was just going to say, the thing that struck me was one of the first things that David said, that they believe she was going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit? That's what started this? And that leads to this?
BEGNAUD: If there wasn't video of this, she'd be telling the story for the rest of her life, and --
KING: And nobody would believe her. And those cops are still working.