Kentucky State Police have opened an investigation following the death of a Black man shortly after being in the custody of the Ashland Police Department on March 4.
Clarence Wilkerson, 34, died at the King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Kentucky, following being detained by officers from the Ashland Police Department. A bystander captured video of Wilkerson being detained by police in the northeastern Kentucky town as he struggled to breathe and hold himself upright.
The video begins with the bystander’s voice, who later identified herself as Bethany Bowman, telling the officers that she wanted their names and badge numbers. Four white police officers are seen standing around Wilkerson, who was sitting on the ground handcuffed near a police cruiser.
Bowman repeatedly states to the officers that the man is in distress and struggling to breathe.
“Dude! He’s literally sitting there passing out, man. He’s passing the f— out… Why? Because when your hands are behind your back like that, it restricts your breathing,” she said. One of the officers is heard telling Wilkerson to stand up as he falls over. None of the officers seem to offer any sort of aid to Wilkerson or call for an ambulance.
Bowman could be heard saying, “Dude! He’s Black, and he’s pale. I can see he’s pale.”
One of the officers is heard sarcastically saying to the woman “I apologize for catching a criminal,” to which she replied, “I think you just have a hard-on for him” and brought up quotas.
Finally, the officers assisted Wilkerson in standing up and put him in the back of one of the police cruisers. Wilkerson is seen bent over and barely able to walk as he is led to the vehicle. Bowman asked the police officers if Wilkerson was going to receive any kind of medical treatment and again noted he was Black, yet she could see that he was pale and “pasty” as the officers casually stood around.
An officer is heard finally…
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